Neji and Tenten: Fifty Things
by DemonClowSorceress
Summary: Sixth installment of Fifty Things! Now branching into anime with Neji and Tenten! K plus for whatever may appear, some chapters may be T.
1. Prompts

**Neji and Tenten: Fifty Things**

**By: DemonClowSorceress**

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_ or any of those characters. I merely write to satisfy the wait between chapters.**

**Yet another Fifty Things installment! Here I shall bring forth the bits of Neji and Tenten that we all love!**

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><p>#1 - Routine<p>

They have to train together. Their sanity depends on it.

#2 - Meditate

He always seems so refreshed afterwards. So one day, she decided to see what the big deal was.

#3 - Weaponry

It's truly amazing that she can keep track of everything, considering the amount of metal and gunpowder and general sharpness of all her toys.

#4 - Pests

"Stand back," she said, unwinding her detonator's wires and clipping them onto their ports. "I can't be held responsible for anybody in the blast zone."

#5 - Odango

He had a burning desire to find out what her hair looked like out of her signature hairstyle.

#6 - Fate

Fickle whore couldn't cut him a break, not once.

#7 - Translation

"Hn" and silences may make many people scratch their heads in confusion, but she always knew what he was talking about.

#8 - Genius

His personality makeup was a particular brand of smug intelligent bastard.

#9 - Compass

"What is it with men and asking for directions?" she snapped, grabbing the map from his hands and taking a look for herself.

#10 - Exam

He knew when he heard her encouragment shouted above the din of the crowd. He knew he couldn't lose in front of her.

#11 - Bravery

They have very different definitions of the same concept.

#12 - Accident

"You didn't see that kunai, Neji. You didn't _see_ it."

#13 - Duo

Konoha's consistancy was always measured by its pairs.

#14 - Surgery

She had to remember that her idol was working on him. It was the only way she could keep sane until the OR light flicked off and they told her if he made it.

#15 - Advice

It's like, no matter who you ask, nobody can tell you how to approach the weapons mistress or the Hyuuga prodigy. They only say, "Don't even try it."

#16 - Fortune

She had to be smiling down on him. Nothing else explained how he managed to find the one person who could save him.

#17 - Balanced

At first glance, nobody could understand how they worked together.

#18 - Hands

It happened naturally, then progressed from there.

#19 - Panicked

"Prodigies don't panic," Kakashi admonished gently. "They just get flustered in a very dramatic fashion."

#20 - Perception

They each viewed life differently, but they agreed to differ.

#21 - Emergency

One day, they pushed too far. Considering how long they've practiced together, it was bound to happen sooner or later.

#22 - Light

She was his guiding star, and as long as she burned, he'd continue to follow her.

#23 - Dark

He was always trapped in the blackness of his hate. So she held out her hand and has been leading him out ever since.

#24 - Cage

His mark was a more confining prison than anything mortal men could ever construct.

#25 - Week

The seven days following one of the most heated arguments between two highly skilled sparring partners were seven days that Konohagakure became a powder keg, awaiting the spark that could blow the whole village up.

#26 - Onsen

The sight of a teammate you may be crushing on in a towel is something you might be slightly uncomfortable with. Especially if you and said teammate are alone.

#27 - Survival

It's surprising the lengths one will go in order to stay alive in a hazardous environment.

#28 - PDA

In all fairness, Naruto hadn't really expected him to actually _do _it.

#29 - Heartstopping

There was blood everwhere, and he couldn't find her. There were bodies all over, and she couldn't find him.

#30 - Cohabitation

You know it's happened when you have to ask, "Whose brush is this?"

#31 - Run

When the hawk came in, he dropped everything and booked it right back to her side.

#32 - Coldhearted

It's well known that he's an emotionless rock with a body carved by gods. But he has his rare moments.

#33 - Oxymoron

"How the hell can you call something that attacks your vital organs Gentle Fist? What idiot Hyuuga thought up that dumbass name?"

#34 - Eyes

It's amazing the amount of joy - and pain - one could see if one looked hard enough.

#35 - Gossip

It hurt, the words that his jealous fangirls flung at her. The worst ones were the true ones; talentless, plain, and worthless.

#36 - Vicious

They'd done many things to him, but nothing those old farts have done came close to what they said today.

#37 - Bride

"Tenten, I - " But he couldn't finish his sentence, and she knew why.

#38 - Uncertain

She certainly wasn't expecting a stammering Hyuuga to be standing outside her door at three in the morning.

#39 - Kidnapped

His heart stopped cold when he heard that she was gone.

#40 - Dungeon

She was about to give up when she heard the inhuman roar from outside her cell.

#41 - Seduction

Somehow Tsunade figured saying "The first one's always the hardest" wasn't the right thing to say. The ice-cold glare of one Hyuuga Neji could have been her first clue.

#42 - Tears

They didn't cry much, but when they did, it was only when they were alone...or together.

#43 - Viper

She could be a dangerous enemy when provoked. Especially when she played dirty.

#44 - Kaiten

Some people saw just a jutsu, an accomplishment worthy of the prodigy. But she could see every bit of hard work, practice, and sheer determination with every rotation.

#45 - Ribbon

She couldn't be so cheaply bought off on this day.

#46 - Blind

For having an all-seeing field of vision, he could sometimes miss what's right in front of his nose.

#47 - Morning

They knew when they woke up that they had to talk about what had happened.

#48 - Mesh

It was a weird combination - a pair of moon-pale eyes that saw everything, and a penchant for blowing up everything in sight.

#49 - Mindreading

Her 100/100 accuracy wasn't only restricted to sharp pointy things that made people bleed and die.

#50 - Teammates

They'd come so far together.

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><p><strong>So, tell me what you think! Please and thank you!<strong>


	2. Routine

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #1: Routine - They have to train together. Their sanity depends on it.**

**Words: 817**

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><p>"Now, my youthful teammates, let us divide and begin our glorious training!" announced Gai.<p>

"Oh yes, Gai-sensei!" Lee shouted with happiness. "May I partner with you?"

"Of course, Lee!"

"Gai-sensei!"

"Lee!"

Neji and Tenten looked at their gushing sensei and teammate, then shared a look with each other. Tenten pointed into the woods with a silent question in her eyes. Neji nodded wearily, and they left the other half of their team to head for their traditional training spot.

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><p>Hyuuga Neji learned a long time ago that it was best to train with Tenten.<p>

When they'd first become a team, Lee had always started challenging Neji to random fights. Neji always beat him simply because he was better. A pompous reason, but utterly true.

Training with Gai was somewhat more challenging, but then again, it was Gai. Gai was, most definitely, just a more powerful version of Lee. Once you understood the basic concepts of his taijutsu, it was easy to nullify his attacks with Juken and defeat him. After a couple dozen such fights, Gai decided that he could teach more to Lee than to Neji.

After Lee took a couple months to really bone up on Gai's signature fighting style, he came up to challenge Neji again. Once again, Neji was victorious. And worse, he was bored. Being a genius meant that he couldn't compete with anyone not on his level because he couldn't be bothered enough to go all out.

Then Tenten approached him one day and asked if he'd like to be her moving target.

The idea intrigued him. Not only because he knew almost nothing about the girl, but because it seemed to be a challenge.

That, and she seemed more sane than the other two buffoons on Team Gai.

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><p>Tenten learned a long time ago that it was best to train with Hyuuga Neji.<p>

As a weapons girl, she knew her strengths. Long range attacks, mostly, and close range whenever she had a big enough blade. So she wanted to get better. 100 percent accuracy.

Therefore, she needed to get someone to train with.

Lee was out of the question. He meant well, but he just wasn't fast or clever enough. Even after training with Gai all that time, wearing weights and with greater stamina, Tenten was still able to outwit him.

Gai was a bit more interesting, since he was a jonin. But soon he would slip up and fall victim to her traps. There was also his whole spiel about her being a "youthful flower" or some such nonsense that always made Tenten want to _accidentally _stab him.

Which left Neji. Prodigy, with Byakugan eyes that were virtually impossible to sneak up on, and even better, bored out of his mind. Tenten had a good feeling that he would be more than willing to train with her.

It still took a great deal of courage to walk up to him and ask if he'd like to be her moving target.

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><p>It started out as a necessity. They had to train, and neither could really train with Gai or Lee to their full potential.<p>

Tenten quickly realized that Neji was no pushover. His Juken was an impressive defensive tactic, as was his Byakugan. She was quickly learning how to attack from various angles at once, with delayed attacks, and all while moving to avoid his own attacks.

Neji soon learned that Tenten wasn't just a weapons fanatic. She had intuition and the brains to use her weapons to their full advantage. Soon he had to push himself to dodge, block, and repel all her attacks.

It was during their first missions that they reaped the fruits of their training. He was close range, she was long range. They moved with assuredness, never hesitant about the other's moves. Between the two of them, the enemy was good as dead.

So they kept training together.

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><p>"I've got a question for you, Neji," Tenten asked as they were setting up.<p>

He raised an eyebrow at her.

She tapped her chin with her kunai's handle. "Why is it that we're still sane after being with those nutbars for the last few years?"

Neji didn't hesitate. "Because we don't train with them."

"That could be it," she said, laughing. Opening her scroll, she grinned at him. "Ready?"

In response, Neji sank into his stance as she took to the trees.

Just as they had since that first day.

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><p><strong>It's starting! Let me know how you like it!<strong>


	3. Meditate

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #2: Meditate - He always seems so refreshed afterwards. So one day, she decided to see what the big deal was.**

**Words: 692**

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><p>Tenten peeked around the tree carefully.<em> I wonder what he's thinking about over there, <em>she thought, watched her teammate sit under a tree directly across the clearing from her. _He hasn't moved in an hour. Is he asleep?_

"Tenten, stop staring at me."

She jumped at the sudden sound of his voice. "Sorry, am I disturbing you Neji?"

"Hn." Shifting his weight ever so slightly, Neji resumed his meditation. His breaths were deep and even and calm, almost as if he were asleep.

_Maybe he's thinking about lunch, _Tenten mused. _Or maybe about what we'll do to train next. I know he's been itching to try multi-directional shuriken windmills for a while - _

"Tenten, do you mind?"

The weapons mistress threw up her hands. "What do you want me to do? I can't exactly train when my _sparring partner _is doing his inner-peace-voodoo-nap under a tree."

His white lavender-tinted eyes opened slightly. "First off, it's not voodoo. Second, it's not a nap. Third, it's not for inner peace. It's for relaxation and regaining my energy."

Tenten rolled her eyes at him. "So it's a glorified power nap. Fantastic."

"It's not a - " Seeing that arguing would get him nowhere, Neji sighed and closed his eyes again. "Why don't you try it? It might help you unwind and let me actually concentrate."

Hyuuga Neji did not extend invitations often, and he never issued them twice. Tenten quickly went to his side and sat beside him, crossing her legs like he did and letting her hands fall in her lap. "Okay, now what?" she asked as she leaned against the tree trunk.

"Now, close your eyes and just be quiet." Before she could snap a retort, he was back in his meditation. Rolling her eyes again, Tenten had no choice but to close them and inhale a short breath.

What did he expect her to do? Just sit there? She was not good at sitting still. No, she was more of a run-and-blow-em-up kind of girl, not the sit-still-and-breathe type. She knew her limitations, which is why she never signed up for quiet, sneaky missions. Sooner or later, she'd always make a bang - literally.

How long were they going to sit here? She knew his meditations sometimes ran over the alloted hour, but she'd learned not to break him out of it early. He was grouchy and had the nerve to push their training even harder.

A bird tweeted above their heads. She tilted her head a tiny fraction as it moved away. Did Neji still watch the birds in envy? She hadn't seen it recently, but he did like watching them fly.

It was really quiet in the clearing. Almost as though nobody else was around for miles.

Gai and Lee were probably doing some ridiculous sort of training on the other side of the village.

It was just her and Neji. She and him. Sparring partners, best friends, confidants.

Maybe more? Not sure.

But it would be nice...

"Tenten?"

Her eyes snapped open in shock. The sun was in a different place in the sky, and Neji was giving her a smug look. "See? That's why I meditate."

She stretched and was pleasantly surprised to find that her earlier weariness was gone. "Wow! That was energizing!" she exclaimed. "So you use your meditation to think about stuff?"

There was a strange, almost faraway look in his eyes when he replied, "Something like that."

For some reason she thought about the random thought she had just at the end of her meditation. About them becoming more than friends. Shaking it off, she skipped ahead to start setting up for their training.

She never heard him mutter, "I have a lot to think about. Especially about you, and me...and us."

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><p><strong>This one was a bit short. Sorry it's taking so long. I'm really trying to make this as awesome as possible.<strong>

**Review!**


	4. Weaponry

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #3: Weaponry - It's truly amazing that she can keep track of everything, considering the amount of metal and gunpowder and general sharpness of all her toys.**

**Words: 635**

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><p>"NOBODY MOVE!"<p>

A useless command, since everyone who could move was in the opposite direction of where she was searching. Hyuuga Neji re-tied his long hair back as he looked at his female teammate. "Tenten, what the hell is wrong with you?"

"I LOST MY KUNAI!"

He frowned in shocked confusion, looking around. There were almost fifty kunai littering the ground, some in the ground, others sticking out of the various missing-nins they had just mowed down. "How can you tell?"

"I CAN! NOW HELP ME LOOK FOR IT!" she shouted, looking around like a mad woman for one weapon in a sea of many.

Neji shook his head in wonder. Once again, he was stunned at the mentality of Tenten. A true - how was it said? - weapons fanatic.

How could she tell if she was missing a weapon? She had hundreds, maybe thousands, all sealed in her scrolls or tucked in her clothes and backpack. Her home was a blasted armory. Neji was pretty sure she even slept with no less than five bladed weapons all within arm's reach. She bought new weapons like other girls bought new shoes, without a pressing need other than they looked pretty and she thinks she needs them. He couldn't even keep track of the weapons she did own because she'd lose, break, replace, trade, or even combine them in such a dizzying array that it made his mind stagger.

Weapons nut.

"NEJI! GET YOUR PALE HYUUGA ASS OVER HERE AND HELP ME FIND MY KUNAI!" shouted his normally sane teammate. Rolling his eyes, the prodigy sighed and picked his way through the battlefield to literally find a needle in a haystack.

Tenten was beginning to look seriously freaked out. Her eyes were wide with panic, her face was pale and a mask of desperation, and her movements were swift and jerky rather than her regular fluid grace. Neji frowned. _All this over one missing kunai? There has to be another reason_.

So he headed over and began examining the weapons with his Byakugan, searching for traces of Tenten's chakra on the grips of the weaponry. "What's so important about this kunai, Tenten?" he asked.

"It just is, all right? Now keep looking!"

"Tell me the truth."

She swallowed hard. "Look, it was my first, okay? You always treasure your first. It was the first weapon my parents ever bought me before they - disappeared." Her voice caught, and she swallowed again to get past the lump in her throat. "That kunai is the only thing I have left of my parents, Neji. I can't lose it."

A flash of chakra caught his eye. Turning to check, Neji spotted the weapon sticking out of the ground near the edge of the battlefield. He went over and picked it up. "Got it."

It looked normal. A kunai just like the others he had in his thigh holster. But it was when he looked closer that he realized what made it special to his teammate.

The engraving on the handle read, _To our daughter Tenten, we're so proud of you. And we love you forever_.

Neji glanced up as he sensed Tenten approaching. "Here it is," he said, handing it over. "Next time, don't use it, okay? We won't always have the time to search every fight scene before leaving."

She nodded and quickly tucked it away. "Thank you, Neji." Surprising both of them, she reached up and kissed his cheek, then headed back towards home.

"Hn," he shrugged, smiling a little before following.

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><p><strong>Just a drabble that I think turned out cute. Review! Let's break the 10 mark!<strong>


	5. Pests

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #4: Pests - "Stand back," she said, unwinding her detonator's wires and clipping them onto their ports. "I can't be held responsible for anybody in the blast zone."**

**Words: 492**

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><p>The client looked very worried. "Isn't there some other way to do this?" she asked.<p>

"You wanted a very quick and effective extraction," Neji confirmed. "This is the quickest."

The client wrung her hands. "Isn't there an, I don't know, _safer _way?"

"Oh, undoubtedly." He glanced over at his partner. "Unfortunately, if you reneg on this, you'll have much worse to deal with. She's already brought out the explosives. Putting them away...irritates her."

Inside, he was cracking up. This was a simple enough mission - quick elimination. But the client hadn't been clear on the scope of her problem, so when she asked for removal, Tenten heard _violent explosive destruction of multiple targets_. Hence, the explosives.

The client bit her lip, growing more and more anxious as Tenten began setting the charges. "Is this really necessary?"

"You said they were becoming more irritating to your guests. You pleaded with the Hokage to send out somebody to deal with it immediately," Neji said, quoting the request.

"But this seems almost...cruel. And overkill."

"For this job to be done in the timeframe you requested, this is the quickest way." Privately he agreed that this was over-the-top, but he was smart enough to not agree out loud. "Besides, this ensures that they don't return."

"But it seems so..._wrong_."

Neji shrugged. "Sort of. Mostly. Yes. But necessary." He looked over and saw Tenten playing out the detonator line. "Hey, you almost done yet?"

"Yup!" The prospect of lots of explosions was making Tenten very happy. "This is gonna be awesome! I set the charge right by the main group!"

"Please stop looking so damn excited about blasting a whole group of creatures from the face of the earth," he chided more for the client's sake than his own. Personally, he thought her entire demeanor was adorable. "Try and be professional."

Attaching the cords to the detonator switch, Tenten gestured for Neji and the client to back up. "Better take a couple steps away. And brace yourself."

Neji rolled his eyes. "You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"No! Okay, a little bit," she admitted, flipping the first primer switch and prepping the detonator. "Maybe you should stand back some more."

The client bit her lip. "Are you sure this will work?"

"After this, ma'am, you won't have a problem ever again," Neji promised.

Tenten held up the detonator, curling her fingers around the handle. "And we're on in five...four...three...two..." She flipped the last primer switch and twisted the handle. "And a one!" she announced, pushing the handle home with a grin.

Five hundred meters away, the nest exploded sky-high, and little rodent carcasses fell like rain.

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><p><strong>Okay, so I've been without internet for four days. LAAAAAME. So this just unfurlled. Tenten go BOOM!<strong>

**Review please!**


	6. Odango

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #5: Odango - He had a burning desire to find out what her hair looked like out of her signature hairstyle.**

**Words: 642**

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><p>She always wears those buns.<p>

Ever since we were children, she's worn them. Two buns, one on each side of her head, making her look like a panda. Granted, a panda with a certain proclivity for sharp, pointy objects, but the point remains. Every time I've seen her, she's worn those buns.

I don't think I've ever seen her hair in any other style before.

It's always nagged at me, wondering how she'd look with her hair down. I mean, I know it's long - has to be to stay in that style - but seriously, it bugs me. I've seen other girls' hair long, but never Tenten's.

It just...bugs me, ya know?

Not that I can ever tell her that. She'll have too much fun poking fun at my curiosity. I'd lose what little respect I still get from her.

So I'm content to wonder.

It's a mystery. Life is full of them, right? And it's a fascinating one, for me anyway. I'm sure few other people wonder what Tenten's unbound tresses look like. Or feel like.

...Wow, that was a weird and vaguely creepy thought to have. Wondering how my female teammate's hair would feel? Yeah, creepy. I should stop that.

...But I can't.

I wonder how it would feel. Would it be like silk? Or like those furs that people like to wear when it's really cold out? Is it curly? Wavy? Straight as a nail? Kinky from her hairstyle.

Gods above, I have to stop this. It's distracting. It's immature. It's -

"OW! Neji! My hair got caught. Help me get it loose!"

- such a good thing she's my sparring partner.

"Coming!" I sprint over and stare in surprise. Somehow she managed to get her tightly pinned hairstyle caught in the links of a fence. "Wow, impressive."

"Shove it! Help!" she snaps. Painful tears are starting to collect in her eyes.

"Okay, okay, hold still."

This is huge. What were the odds that I'd get this chance again?

Pulling out the hairpins she uses to keep her buns in place is a time-consuming process. How many did she use? I count about thirty before I give up. Little by little, it starts coming undone. She leans forward bit by bit, ready to go when I tell her to.

I'm too busy watching her hair. Out of the buns, it's long. Really long. Longer than mine. Not surprising since she's a girl, but still. It's a velvety chocolate brown, just like her eyes, and shimmers in the sunlight. It's...beautiful.

I pick the last caught strands free of the fence. "Okay, you're good," I say, standing up with her.

She finger-combs her hair and breaths a sigh of relief. "Thank God you didn't have to cut it. I've been working at this for years." Pulling out a handful of pins, she starts twisting and pulling her hair back into its buns.

I watch, entranced. In some corner of my mind I start thinking that this is sort of creepy to be watching a girl do her hair. But as long as Tenten doesn't threaten me with dismemberment, I'll be okay.

She doesn't. In fact, once she's done, she looks at me and says, "How do I look?"

_Beautiful_, I want to say. "Hn, fine," is what comes out of my mouth.

She smiles again. "Awesome. Thanks."

So now I know what she looks like with her hair down. It's beautiful.

Maybe if I'm lucky, I can see it again.

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><p><strong>Neji showing a human moment. So nice to write.<strong>

**Review please!**


	7. Fate

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #6: Fate - Fickle whore couldn't cut him a break, not once.**

**Words: 638**

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><p>Hyuuga Neji used to believe Fate was out to get him.<p>

How else do you explain the hell he went through? Born as a genius - but into the Branch House, where his true potential would be forever stifled. His father Hizashi killed - because the Main House would not give up his elder twin brother, Hiashi. Branded with the curse seal of the Hyuuga family - because he was born into the Branch House.

Fate was cruel to him. So he grew cold, and jaded, and decided that he couldn't fight against Fate. Why bother? It was obvious he couldn't win.

So he pushed himself to be the best he could ever aspire to be. As a genius, he aced all his Academy exams. When time came for a team placement, he found himself with a loud kid who couldn't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, an even louder sensei with a strange fascination with youthfulness, and an ordinary girl with no clan name or talent to speak of.

Fate was clearly burying him now, he recalled thinking to himself.

Lee kept challenging him, and losing. It was his lot in life; Neji understood that, why couldn't he? Guy couldn't get through to him, so he focused all his training on Lee. Neji understood why, of course. What would you need to train a genius on?

Only Tenten persisted in staying by him. Tenten, the clanless girl who had the wild notion that training with him was a good idea. The girl who, by some strange twisting of Fate, became one of his closest friends.

But he refused to become attached to her. Fate had that sadist's love of inflicting pain on him by stealing people he cared about. So they stayed sparring partners, and teammates.

That's where he ended up at the Chunin Exams, in the final round. A prodigy who managed to reverse-engineer one of the Main House's most closely-guarded secret jutsus - and losing to someone like Uzumaki Naruto. That loss made him open his eyes to what he had. What he had made for himself. What he could accomplish despite having the hand Fate had dealt him.

Maybe Fate wasn't a sadistic bitch who purposefully tripped him up at every junction.

But when he was getting his ass handed to him by Kidomaru in the woods, Neji had that crisis again. He wondered, then again, maybe Fate had a plan for him. Maybe it was his fate to die in those trees, alone, full of holes with a kunai made of hardened spider-spit sticking out of his neck.

Then he remembered what Naruto had said to him. That he wasn't a loser, like Naruto had been. He was a genius. And genius ninja don't just give up.

So, he defied Fate for the first time. He kept on fighting. He pushed, and waited, and plotted, until his shot literally came right to him.

It came to him later, as he was laying on the ground and watching the birds fly overhead. Fate was being particularly vicious to him right now. Giving him victory but denying him the lifetime to enjoy it. But Neji wasn't bitter about it. He wasn't going to blame Fate for something that was completely in his own power to avoid.

Even if the medic team managed to find him, his injuries were too severe to recover from even with surgery. He just wished he could see Tenten again. After all, he'd pretty much left without saying goodbye. _Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll be on the team..._

But knowing his luck, Fate probably wasn't on his side.

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><p><strong>Double update today! Review!<strong>


	8. Translation

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #7: Translation - "Hn" and silences may make many people scratch their heads in confusion, but she always knew what he was talking about.**

**Words: 653**

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><p>It's supremely annoying to have a conversation with somebody who uses few, if any, understandable words.<p>

Hyuuga Neji is one of those people. Uchiha Sasuke is another. So is Shino, but not as much. It's a genius thing, apparently.

But let's focus on Neji. He is, after all, the best example of the three.

His monosyllabic replies have driven lesser people insane. They all sound the same, for god's sake! All the same tone of voice, and if that wasn't bad enough, you couldn't even use facial cues to guess his emotions because of his impressive poker face.

If he's ever pressed into uttering a complete sentance, it's always spoken with very large words that make others scratch their heads in confusion. He seems to take a sick pleasure (maybe, or it's the only way he can speak) in using vocabulary that most other people rarely hear, let alone know the definition of.

But mostly, he stays silent, which drives people even more insane. How the hell can you say something without saying something? How can you differenciate between his many silences?

It's like he's speaking another language, and it annoys the hell out of people.

Only one person understands everything, both his words and his silences. Only one person can accurately translate what his words and looks mean for others.

That person is Tenten.

Somehow, the weapons mistress can hear "Hn," and deliver a few sentances of explaination that defies normal comprehension. Somehow, she can translate genius-speak into normal speech for those not fluent in large, complicated words. Remarkably, she can serve as a verbal conduit when Neji decides to say absolutely nothing.

It's weird.

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><p>"...and that's just a thought about how we can surprise Gai-sensei on his youthful day of birth!" Lee exclaimed, tears in his eyes. "What say you, my youthful teammates?"<p>

Neji shrugged. "Hn."

Tenten shook her head. "I agree with Neji. It's too much, Lee."

"But my lovely Tenten, don't you want Gai-sensei to feel the extent of our youthful love and admiration for him!" the Green Beast of Konoha asked, looking horrified at her disagreement.

"There has to be another way," she insisted. "One not so...flagrant."

Neji said, "Perhaps we require circumstances in which the astonishment factor could be expounded, and therefore the actual event could be understated and tailored to however much money we can successfully accumulate by this time tomorrow."

Lee looked at Tenten with a "huh?" expression on his face. She replied, "Neji's idea is that we should throw a surprise party, that way we're not breaking the bank on the actual party itself."

The other boy's round eyes grew wider as he smiled. "A most excellent plan, my rival!" he announced. "I am off to buy presents for Gai-sensei! Please accompany me, my youthful teammates!"

"Um, no thanks Lee, you go on ahead," Tenten said with a weak smile. Lee saluted them and skipped off, leaving the other two members of Team Gai sitting beneath Neji's meditation tree. Tenten slumped against the rough bark of the trunk. "Whew. I thought he'd never leave."

"..."

"Hey, not my fault," she insisted, glaring at Neji. "If you had just told him that you'd already had a plan, we wouldn't have had to sit through his long-winded plans for Gai's birthday!"

"..." Neji raised an eyebrow as a tiny smirk ghosted over his lips.

The kunoichi's face turned into a mask of anger. "You bastard! You did that on purpose!"

"Hn."

"Hyuuga Neji, you owe me lunch for that hell," Tenten said. "I'm starved. Let's go."

He shrugged. "All right."

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><p><strong>Review please! It shows your interest and support!<strong>


	9. Genius

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #8: Genius - His personality makeup was a particular brand of smug intelligent bastard.**

**Words: 651**

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><p>"Why are you being such an arrogant asshole?"<p>

Neji fought the urge to roll his eyes. "What are you going on about now?" he asked his sparring partner.

She raked back some strands of hair that had come free of her buns. "Just an observational remark," she panted out. "Are you always such a smug bastard, or are you having an off day?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Neji replied. "I don't feel any different."

"Like that!" she shouted, leveling the finger of blame at him. "Exactly! Why are you so damn smug?"

Neji's eyes widened; he'd never seen Tenten this outright enraged at him before. Okay, scratch that, he had, but always with a good reason. This had just dropped out of the sky like a summoned sword-bearing toad.

"Tenten," he said carefully. "I'm being completely honest with you when I say that I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. Now start at the beginning. What is this all about?"

The weapons mistress gave him such a harsh, dirty look that Neji almost felt the need to take a shower. "Oh, as if you don't know," she said scathingly.

"I really don't. Enlighten me."

So she did. At length. In great detail. The words "genius" "stuck-up" "arrogant" and "conceited" were used a good many times, not to mention a number of colorfully descriptive swear words that she flung out for good measure. Neji knew that, as long as he didn't interrupt her, Tenten would eventually run out of steam all on her own. So he put on a carefully bland expression and waited as she reamed him out.

"Don't you have anything to say?" she shouted suddenly, startling Neji.

His eyebrow rose. "According to you, whatever I say can be misconstrued as smug."

"Like that!" Tenten shouted.

Neji sighed. "Whatever. I'm going to meditate. When you decide to grow up, I'll expect us to train afterwards." Tenten stuck out her tongue at his back. "And I saw that," he said, blinking off his Byakugan.

"Jerk!"

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><p>Tenten watched him leave, feeling her anger start to leech out of her system. <em>How the hell does he do that? <em>she thought. She'd been primed and ready to read him her riot act, and he'd just sat there and took it without a word. Just like always.

He was one of the most insufferable people she knew, and that was saying something. Not only was he a genius who was totally aware of this fact, but he was a genius who somehow managed to be smug and pompous no matter what. It drove her nuts to hear him talk as if he knew everything.

Running a hand over her face, Tenten sighed in defeat. "Insufferable bastard," she grumbled. Knowing she wouldn't win this fight, the weapons mistress heaved a big sigh and walked after Neji. He was sitting under his customary meditation tree, waiting patiently. "So?" he asked blandly.

She almost - _almost _- blew up at him again. "You know, the way you just said that just reaffirmed my whole argument."

Neji shrugged. "I have no - " he started. But he cut himself off, a thoughtful look entering his eyes. Starting again, he said, "Sorry. So, shall we start?"

Tenten was completely sure that he had no idea what he was apologizing for, but the fact that he did was sort of sweet. She smiled and said, "Yeah, let's do it."

So what if he was a smug bastard. He was _her _smug bastard, and she wouldn't trade him for anything in the world.

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><p><strong>Yup, I'm back! Review please! We broke that ten-review mark, let's try for twenty!<strong>


	10. Compass

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #9: Compass - "What is it with men and asking for directions?" she snapped, grabbing the map from his hands and taking a look for herself.**

**Words: 546**

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><p>"Neji, are we lost?"<p>

He gritted his teeth at the question, focused solely on the map in his hands. "No Tenten, we are not lost," he replied for the fifth time. _I'm just slightly uncertain on where we are. This map must be old or something._

Tenten glanced up at the gray, angry sky. "We should get under some cover soon. It looks like it's about to storm." She shivered as the wind began to pick up strength. "I _haaaate _the cold."

"Then let me think, woman," he grumbled. Checking his compass and the position of the sun, Neji dragged his finger along the map. "We were here about two hours ago, and then we went left...then we turned south at the forest..."

"Neeeejiiiii," Tenten whined. He slanted a glare at her. No effect. "Neeejiii."

"What?"

"Lemme look."

"No," he replied. When she made a grab for it, he held it away from her. "I said no, Tenten. I can read a map, you know. They do teach that skill to jonins."

Tenten rolled her eyes. "Yes, Mr. I'm-A-Hotshot-Jonin, I know already. Congrats, you're a jonin. Whoop-de-flippin'-do. Now let me see the map."

"No."

"Give it."

"No way."

"C'mon!"

"No!"

Each exchange was punctuated by accompanying motions - she'd grab for the map, he'd jerk it away from her. They did this dance for a good ten minutes before Tenten gave a final, "Dammit, Neji!" and lunged for the map. Of course he stepped aside, but he misjudged how agile she was. Stupid, since they'd trained together for so long that he knew just how flexible she was.

He spared a second to think of how dirty that sounded. One second only. On account that she twisted in midair and managed to tackle him sideways to the ground.

"Got it!" she crowed, holding the map aloft. She looked down at him to smirk triumphantly. "Now maybe we'll make some headway."

Neji didn't speak. He didn't even move. He was too focused on not thinking about Tenten's body draped over his own. She got back to her feet and fell to studying the map, leaving Neji to regain his own footing. He brushed his clothes free of dust and fell in step behind his teammate as she led them out of the forest.

So what if he'd gotten them lost. It wasn't like they would've died out in the woods. He was a jonin and she was a chunin. They would've survived.

_**Yeah**, _sneered inner Neji, **_you could've kept warm by sharing body heat. All. Night. Long._**

_Shut the hell up! _he scolded his inner voice.

"Neji? Neji!" He blinked. Tenten was giving him an exasperated look. "Hey, you all right?"

"Yeah," he replied. "Fine."

**_Pffft, yeah right._**

_Shut up! _He heaved a long sigh. _This is going to be a long trip home.._.

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><p><strong>Yay, update! Review please!<strong>


	11. Exam

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #10: Exam - He knew when he heard her encouragment shouted above the din of the crowd. He knew he couldn't lose in front of her.**

**Words: 911**

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><p>Neji pushed himself to his feet and assumed the Juuken stance again. His breath was coming in deep, gasping lungfuls of air. A few of his muscles twitched, betraying his mind's order to stay strong and firm.<p>

His opponent was unbelievably strong. Far stronger than anyone he'd faced in a long, long time. But that made sense given his current reason for fighting in this battle.

The jonin exam. Something he'd been gunning for ever since he passed his second attempt at the chunin exam nine months prior.

He would be the first of the Konoha Twelve to reach jonin rank. Tenten had sworn as much after one of their rigorous training sessions to prep him for this exam. Personally, Neji thought he had a good chance too.

Then he saw his competition and felt his confidence take a slight hit. Suna, Kusa, Kumo, even some Kiri. All pretty impressive individuals who were all as intimidating as the group of Konoha hopefuls that included Neji.

The sounds of the stadium were deafening, but Neji had already tuned them out. His focus was entirely centered on Hiyoshi, the jonin hopeful he was fighting. A lean and strong shinobi from Kiri who had some sort of chip on his shoulder to kick Neji's ass. He was doing a damn good job of it too.

Neji wasn't sure how much longer he could go on.

Hiyoshi formed a hand sign. "Suiton: Teppōdama! (Water Release: Gunshot!)" His cheeks expanded and worked for a moment. Neji barely had time to register the chakra being manipulated before he was forced to dodge the barrage of high-speed water projectiles aimed for him. Hiyoshi moved just as fast, keeping up while molding chakra into those water bullets that whizzed just past Neji's face.

The Hyuuga prodigy knew he was entering the endgame. They were both tiring, and on their last legs in both stamina and chakra. Obviously Hiyoshi was expecting to end this with this jutsu; while simple, it could be deadly if used cunningly...

Pain suddenly burst to life all over Neji's body, making him shout in shock as the ground started exploding around him. He realized what had happened in seconds. While he'd been thinking, Hiyoshi had somehow managed to jump above him and fired down. Combined with gravity, the water bullets had become even more deadly. He was standing in the middle of a firefight, and he couldn't get out.

When the pounding was done, Neji put as much distance between him and Hiyoshi as possible, trying to think of a way to defeat the Kiri-nin. Obviously he was a long-range shinobi with some medium-range capabilities, and he knew enough about taijutsu to evade Neji's attempts to seal his chakra pathways.

"Come on, Neji!"

He straightened slightly. He could've sworn he heard his name...

"Kick his ass, Neji!"

There it was again. One familiar voice among the crowd of cheering, shouting people. Neji used his Byakugan to scan the crowds, searching for that one person whose voice was reaching him over the incredible din...

"Neji, what are you doing? GET IN THERE AND KICK HIS ASS ALREADY!"

_Tenten_.

How could he now know his best friend's voice? Neji blamed exhaustion and pain. But now that he heard her, a new surge of energy exploded in his trembling limbs. He knew he could do this.

Because as sure as his name was Hyuuga Neji, if he lost here, she'd kill him.

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><p>Tenten was the first person waiting for him when he walked out of the arena. Mindful of his injuries, she jumped into his arms and laughed. "Neji, you won!"<p>

"Doesn't mean I'm a jonin," he reminded her, grunting with pain as something bent wrong. "Ow, Tenten. Can I sit down?"

"Oh sure, yeah," she said, helping him to a chair. _Duh stupid, he got pretty banged up out there! _she chided herself. She grabbed her water bottle and handed it to Neji.

"Thanks, by the way," he said, rinsing his mouth out.

She had a feeling he didn't mean the water. "For what?"

"For believing in me."

Tenten scoffed. "What, you didn't? Neji, I've seen firsthand how far you've come since the Chunin Exam. Trust me, you earned this."

The Hyuuga prodigy smiled at her. Tenten almost couldn't breathe; it was a soft, gentle smile that was markedly different from his usual smirk of I'm-so-smart-and-awesome. "You helped me through this, Tenten," he said honestly. "You believed in me."

She managed to smile back despite being lightheaded. "I've always believed in you, Neji. I always will. You know that."

They sat in comfortable silence, relaxing as the exam continued outside. She could hear the crowd cheering on the next pair of combatants, but didn't care right now. As far as she was concerned, the rest of the contestants were unimportant.

The only one that mattered was sitting next to her, bleeding from some superficial scratches.

"Okay," said the kunoichi, picking up his sliced arm. "Let's try and get you moderately presentable before you go back out there."

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><p><strong>Just a thought how Neji became a jonin. Cuter than expected.<strong>

**Review!**


	12. Bravery

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto _or any of the characters involved.**

**Prompt #11: Bravery - They have very different definitions of the same concept.**

**Words: 800**

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><p>Being brave can mean different things depending on who you talk to. Some see bravery as a behavior drilled into one's being from childhood. Some view it as a choice that takes time and thought to correctly apply. Still others find it unnecessary and foolish, a choice left to desperate men without a last plan.<p>

Sometimes it depends on your point of view.

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><p>Neji believed that being brave meant having the will to continue fighting even when the odds are stacked against you. The will to fight despite everyone else and your own common sense screaming at you to run.<p>

Once, when they were fighting a rogue weapons master of Kusa, he and Team Gai had been mercilessly thrashed within inches of their lives. Neji's Juuken and Lee's Konoha Senpuu were ineffective against his weapon skills. Even Gai-sensei's Morning Peacock attack wasn't enough to bring this guy down a peg.

In short, they were in deep trouble. Again.

Tenten, however, continued to stubbornly fight him. When her store of sealed weapons was exhausted, she started using the blades that littered the battlefield. It was like watching an elaborate, deadly dance play out in front of his eyes. The Kusa weapons master was the insurmountable villain, while Tenten was the plucky but doomed heroine who could not possibly prevail.

It didn't stop her from fighting, though. And boy, did she fight.

But in time, the fight began to wear down on her. Her reflexes slowed, her energy lagged, and more cuts and bruises started to appear on her body. Pretty soon she was bleeding worse than before and her hands slipped over the handles of her weapons.

Neji thought she was so brave, continuing to fight this losing battle against better judgment and all odds. It made him want to be stronger so he could help her. So against his protesting body's wishes, the Hyuuga prodigy struggled to rise and help her.

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><p>Tenten believed that being brave meant having the guts to go up against what scares you more than anything. The strength to stand up for what you believe in and defend it from those who would put you down and crush you beneath their tyranny.<p>

Neji was being called up to the Hyuuga Elders to discuss his fate within the clan. Having the power he did while bearing the seal of the Branch House, they were considering to press him into an arranged marriage to ally the Hyuuga with another prominent shinobi clan.

Basically, they were using Neji as their pawn. Again.

But he wasn't going quietly. He held out as long as humanly possible, employing every excuse from training to missions to even disappearing without a trace. It was like watching a tragedy unfold before her very eyes. The Elders were the merciless controllers of the family destiny, while Neji was the rebellious but helpless puppet who couldn't break free of his strings.

It never stopped him from trying, though. And man, did he try.

But soon enough, the stress began to take its toll on him. He lost sleep, lost weight, and could barely hide his fatigue while on missions. Pretty soon he was stumbling over his own feet and trying to keep himself from slipping.

Tenten thought he was so brave, still rebelling against the men who wanted to put him back in that terrifying cage. It made her want to be stronger so she could protect him. So against all reason, she walked up to the Hyuuga compound to face off with them.

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><p>Heroism was a difficult thing to describe for them. It was even harder for them to express it, and harder for them to understand another person's version of it.<p>

But they couldn't see their own bravery for what it was - real courage. They only saw each other's courage in the face of adversity, and that spurned them to rise up and help.

With Neji's help, Tenten was able to subdue and disarm the Kusa weapons master. Sure she was hospitalized for four days after that, but at least she made it out alive.

With Tenten's help, Neji was freed from the obligation of an arranged marriage. Sure he was practically grounded for a while after that, but at least he was able to stay in Konoha.

They walked away from their own battles with a little help from each other.

Just like they always had.

Friendship made them brave enough to stand up for each other.

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><p><strong>Because as we all know, these two would weather hell and high water for each other.<strong>

**Review please!**


	13. Accident

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #12: Accident - "You didn't see that kunai, Neji. You didn't _see_ it."**

**Words: 1,001**

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><p>Tenten had only been training with Neji for a few months, but she'd never had such a close call as this before.<p>

Weapons littered the ground, but the one she was focused on was buried in a nearby tree trunk. The one she'd thrown, like all the others, expecting her sparring partner to either block or evade it.

She had not expected him to come a few centimeters too close to death. Or worse, paralysis. She had not expected her kunai to come uncomfortably close to burying its point in the back of Neji's neck instead of in the tree it was in now.

She had not expected to almost _kill _Neji.

And apparently, neither had Neji. He was standing stock-still in the center of the clearing, his pale lavender eyes wide in shock. If Tenten didn't know any better, she would've said he looked _afraid _of her.

"Neji?" she tried.

Quicker than thought, his face was covered with his usual mask of indifference. He turned away from her and moved to sit under his usual tree in his meditation pose, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. Tenten noticed that he made carefully sure that his neck was properly shielded by the tree.

Tenten was many things at the age of twelve, but she was not weak-willed or easily pushed around. Just because Neji refused to talk to her didn't mean she wasn't going to not investigate herself.

Pursing her lips, the kunoichi touched her chin with her index finger in thought. "Fact one, I wasn't trying to mask the presence of my kunai, which meant you could see every one of them," she said aloud.

Neji gave no response.

"Fact two. You had no problem deflecting the other kunai aimed for you, which also meant you could see every one of them."

Still no reply.

"Fact three. This kunai never changed its course, but you moved constantly. This means that you moved in such a way that the kunai became invisible to your sight. Which is weird, because everyone says the Byakugan has a three-sixty range of vision."

Silence.

Tenten walked over to where her one kunai jutted from the tree. "Yet you never saw this kunai until it was almost too late. You reacted by reflex, which is why you're not paraplegic, quadraplegic, or dead at the moment."

Neji finally opened one eye. "Are you getting to a point sometime soon?"

She was, but knowing how proud and secretive he was, Tenten was hesitant to tell him. He probably wouldn't confirm or deny her assumptions. So she just came out and said it, damn the consequences.

"You didn't see the kunai because there's a blind spot in the Byakugan, and the kunai was in it."

If she hadn't been looking closely, she would've missed his shoulders tense up, his breath catch for a moment, and his eyes twitch beneath the closed lids. Tenten purposefully kept silent, watching her teammate with a patient expression. Rushing him wouldn't do any good. They had trust issues as it was. She could only wait until he was ready to give up his secret or tell her to bug off and mind her own business.

"..." One white eye opened. "Nobody outside the clan has ever known what you know."

"I figure," was her reply.

His other eye opened, fixing Tenten with his piercing gaze. "It's a secret we've guarded for generations. If our enemies learned of it, it would be disastrous."

She remained silent. Neji got to his feet and walked to stand in front of her. "You're my teammate," he said tightly, as if forcing himself to say the words. "This means, at some point, you will be fighting with me. This could mean that, hypothetically, you will have to save my life."

_He still won't admit it. What a prick. _Deciding to play along, Tenten nodded. "That's a logical hypothetical scenario. And if we're going on that stream of logic, I'd have to know your hypothetical weaknesses so as to know how to properly watch your back." She looked up at him with mild interest. "So I'm only going to ask once. Where would this hypothetical blind spot of yours be?"

Neji regarded her carefully, as if judging her. She didn't blame him; if she was telling this big of a secret, she'd want to vet the person she was telling to make sure they wouldn't blab it like a moron. So she waited. Something inside was telling her to get used to this. Clearly, this would become a regular thing with them.

Finally Neji spoke. "Hypothetically, it would be just above the third thoracic vertebra."

"Above the what now?" asked Tenten, unfamiliar with the placement.

He reached over and took her hand. Tenten stepped forward as he pulled her closer to place her fingertips at the back of his neck. "Here. Hypothetically," he added.

Tenten stepped around him, leaving her hand on the back of his neck to mark where it was. His skin was warm under her fingers, the bump of bone underneath firm and subtle. She committed the spot to memory and removed her hand. "Difficult, but not impossible," she remarked. "There are several ways to defend that type of weakness. Hypothetically," she added, smiling at him.

Neji met her eyes without expression. But if she looked hard enough, she could see the trace of relief, like smoke, in his eyes before it disappeared.

He'd probably tell her the truth in time. But as long as he said _hypothetical_, Tenten would play along.

He'd come around eventually.

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><p><strong>My take on how Tenten would find out about his blind spot. Review!<strong>


	14. Duo

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #13: Duo - Konoha's consistancy was always measured by its pairs.**

**Words: 484**

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><p>Konoha was one of those cities that measured its power and stability by its people.<p>

And nothing screamed "strength" like pairs of powerful shinobi. Two people, perfectly balanced and in sync, able to take out all comers. Konoha had quite a few of those combos in its military arsenal. Some obvious, some not so much, and others are quite surprising.

An obvious pair was Inuzuka Kiba and Akamaru. Together since birth, the boy and dog were inseperable. Their power was great when alone, but paired together, they were nearly unstoppable.

A slightly less cohesive, but still powerful combination, was that of Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke. When they bothered to cooperate with each other, they made a surprisingly good tag-team.

Another was Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino. Their personalities were polar opposites, but their talents were complimentary - he caught them in his shadow, she invaded their minds. They bickered like cats and dogs on PMS, but they were a hell of a team.

An interesting pair was Hyuuga Hinata and Hyuuga Neji. Both Juuken users, both aspiring fighters of the Hyuuga clan, and both skilled wielders of the Byakugan. Fluid moves and the grace of dancers made their battles look like an elegant waltz of death.

One pair that many people never truly saw in action was that of Haruno Sakura and Rock Lee. Both wicked strong and determined to become stronger, they had an undeniable strength factor that literally blew the competition away.

But there was one team that everyone in Konoha agreed was the most perfect of all.

Hyuuga Neji and Tenten.

He was short-range, she was long-range. He fought with fists and chakra to cause his enemies damage within. She used her weaponry to slice and cut and made her opponents bleed. They were completely opposite and completely in sync. They moved without having to announce their moves, and one never interrupted the other's attacks.

Even their _personalities _clashed. He was cold logic; she was fiery passion. He acted after careful consideration; she reacted without a second thought. He came from a lineage that had stifiled his emotions and caged him within a seal; she was nameless, clanless, and free from those cages.

It was actually surprising that they weren't dating already.

Then again, maybe not. Plenty of good work relationships went sideways if those work relationships turned into actual relationships. Shinobi frequently had to compartmentalize their personal and professional lives to prevent crossovers, but not everyone is perfect.

But if anyone had to bet on the success of a particular pair of partners, that pair would be Neji and Tenten.

After all, they've made it this far without driving each other completely nuts. There was hope yet.

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><p><strong>Review please!<strong>


	15. Surgery

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #14: Surgery - She had to remember that her idol was working on him. It was the only way she could keep sane until the OR light flicked off and they told her if he made it.**

**Words: 1,340**

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><p><em>Multiple lacerations...punctured lung...ruptured liver and spleen...non-responsive...prep for surgery...minimal chance of recovery...<em>

These words floated around in Tenten's head as she sat in the stark white waiting room. Her eyes glared holes at the glowing red OPERATING sign above the double doors.

Those doors were the only things seperating her from Neji. Well, them and Lady Tsunade's threat to remain seated until someone sent for her.

They were operating on Neji, using a technique with a low rate of success. He'd come back so badly beaten after his battle with Kidomaru, the spider-bastard who served Orochimaru and had been part of the squad sent to steal Uchiha Sasuke from Konoha. Neji had engaged Kidomaru to let Naruto, Shikamaru, and Kiba run onwards to retrieve Sasuke. Now he was barely alive and fighting for his life.

Again Tenten cursed that she hadn't gone along. True, Shikamaru hadn't asked her to go, but why hadn't she anyway? Lee had, and he'd done some damage to his opponent before Gaara arrived to help. Together, she and Neji could've taken this Kidomaru guy. She could've watched Neji's blind spot. She could've protected him.

_You would've been shish-kabobed within ten minutes, _replied her rational side. According to the team sent to retrieve the injured boys, the battleground had been a mess, with dead spiders and weapons lying everywhere. Neji had only survived because of his Byakugan. Tenten would've been dead in minutes.

Or Neji would've been forced to protect her, and gotten hurt worse.

Tenten buried her face in her hands, fighting the urge to bawl. Tears wouldn't do a damn bit of good here.

Despite everyone insisting that she go home, Tenten remained in the waiting room. Some of the girls stopped by with water, food, and a blanket so she could curl up on the bench for some sleep. Each tried to talk her into leaving, but Tenten wasn't budging. "Neji's not done yet," she kept saying. "I'm not leaving until Neji's okay."

Lee stopped by, back on his crutches and hopeful for their teammate's progress. But Gai hustled him back to his room, leaving her alone again. Kiba hobbled in, Akamaru cradled in his arms, to ask after him as well before Hinata urged him back to bed. When Naruto came by, he said that he felt awful that Neji was so badly hurt, but he managed to give Tenten words of encouragement that didn't sound hollow and lame.

The day dragged on, winding down into night. Still the OPERATING sign stayed lit. It taunted her, glowing brightly and casting its red glare over the empty room. Silence permeated through the entire hospital, broken only by the hum of machinery, the drone of the overhead lights, and the crickets chirping outside the open window.

Tenten felt like she was going insane. Tired, cramped, hungry, afraid, and praying for a miracle, she huddled on the hard bench she'd called her bed and kept watching the OPERATING sign.

The doors opened. She jolted upright, her breath coming in expectant gasps as Tsunade appeared.

"Good god, Tenten! Have you been here all night?" she asked, coming over to the kunoichi with shock and concern on her face. "No, you haven't...you haven't been here since Neji went in two days ago, have you?"

_Two...days? _Tenten had only noticed the passing of one night, but then again, she'd been fixated on the doors. "How is he?" she rasped. "How is Neji?"

"Still in surgery. I've just come from supervising the switching of the relief unit." At Tenten's puzzled expression she added, "This operation is very precise and time-consuming, which means we have to switch out the medics once they tire. This is the third time they've switched medics since we began."

The brunette wrung her hands helplessly. "Do you know...when he'll be out?"

"At this time, it's still touch-and-go. The next twenty-four hours will be crucial." Tsunade helped her to her feet. "You need a decent night's sleep and fluids. Go home."

Temper already frayed to the last, Tenten lost it. "I'm not leaving without knowing that Neji will be okay!" she screamed, clutching the blanket over her shoulders like a desperate person. "I'm going to be here when he gets out! You can't make me leave! You can't!"

"Tenten." The Hokage didn't raise her voice at all. "I'm not asking you. I'm ordering you. You need rest and nourishment. If you keep pushing yourself this way, you'll end up in a hospital bed as well. That will cause Neji more stress than he'll need to heal. Do you want to be the cause of that?"

Her instinct was on the mark; at the mention of Neji's health, Tenten stopped fighting. Tsunade had Shizune take the younger kunoichi home and put her to bed. Making a note of the time, she then headed to her office to meditate and replenish her strength in case her skills were needed.

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><p>Tenten woke up in her own bed with sunlight streaming in her face. Disoriented and confused, she sat up and pushed her loose, tangled hair from her face. <em>Wasn't I at the hospital? <em>she thought sleepily.

Then it came back to her. Hospital. Waiting room. OPERATING.

Neji.

Tenten tried to get out of bed. Tried, because then she saw a note on her bedstand. She picked it up and read: _Tenten, Lady Tsunade said that you're to stay home today. Neji's surgery won't be finished until late this afternoon, if not evening. If it is finished earlier, someone will come to collect you. Lady Tsunade says, and I quote, "Don't show your face in Konoha Hospital before seven tonight if you value your health." ~ Shizune_

She took a steadying breath, then slowly got out of bed. Keeping her movements calm and collected, Tenten showered and changed into fresh clothes, then took special care in putting up her buns. She cooked a decent meal for herself and drank plenty of fluids. Then she pulled out all her dull weapons and sat down to sharpen, clean and polish them.

She needed the distractions to keep from running like a mad person back to the hospital.

After some hours, there was a knock on her door. She called for them to enter, pausing in her rubbing a nodachi's blade to a bright gleam. She heard the door open, then close, and footsteps approach.

Kakashi poked his head around the corner, saw her arsenal, and raised an eyebrow. "Expecting an army?"

"Need the distraction," she replied. "How is he?"

The silver-haired jonin smiled. "The surgery's finishing up. Lady Hokage said you can wait in his hospital room for him to wake up."

Tenten snapped her fingers. All the weapons disappeared in puffs of smoke, re-sealed in the scrolls she had on call. Getting to her feet, she all but bolted from her apartment towards the hospital.

_Neji's okay. He's okay. He's alive. _She had to keep telling herself those three things.

When she arrived at the front desk, she was immediately directed to the recovery wing. Neji was in a quiet corner room, his bed along the wall by the window. Making sure to walk silently, Tenten went to his side.

She only had to wait a few hours before he opened his eyes. He looked around, then his eyes alighted on her. "Tenten?" he whispered, his voice raspy.

"Hey," she replied, a relieved smile showing through the tears that finally broke free of her eyes. "Welcome back, Neji."

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><p><strong>Wow, gripping. Please review!<strong>


	16. Advice

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #15: Advice - It's like, no matter who you ask, nobody can tell you how to approach the weapons mistress or the Hyuuga prodigy. They only say, "Don't even try it."**

**Words: 1,173**

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><p>Saiyuki Miko really wanted to find out how to approach Hyuuga Neji. She'd had a crush on the prodigy since he started becoming an up-and-rising star in the shinobi world. So one bright sunny day she decided to try her luck in attracting Neji.<p>

But it seemed like nobody was going to help her find out how.

Her girl friends all had their own ulterior motives, so Miko knew better than to ask for their help. They'd just sabotage her chances. So she went to some boys she knew and asked what some of Neji's likes and dislikes were.

Immediately one of them, a boy named Taro, said, "Miko, don't even try it. Save yourself the pain."

This response puzzled Miko. "What do you mean?"

Waka, Taro's friend, piped up. "Seriously, don't. You'll never get interest from Hyuuga Neji."

"Why? He's not gay," she replied. _Unless the hair is his dead giveaway...but everyone swears he's not gay...right?_

"No, he's not," Taro admitted. "But he's - look, just pick another prospect. Trust me, you won't get far going after Neji."

But Miko didn't believe him. It was no secret that lots of guys were jealous of the prodigy's unintentional appeal to the opposite sex. So Miko struck out to find another source.

She decided to go to Neji's closest friend. She sought out Tenten.

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><p>Matsumuri Eichi really wanted to know how he could best approach Tenten. He really admired the girl for rising from obscurity and attaining the status of a powerful kunoichi. She'd already been dubbed "The Weapons Mistress of Konoha" by many of her peers and superiors. So one day he decided to try his hand at catching Tenten's eye.<p>

But it seemed like nobody was willing to help out.

His guy friends were all gunning for her anyway, so Eichi didn't even bother asking them for help. Instead he went to his elder brother, a shinobi and well-versed individual in the flirting game, and asked how he could attract a kunoichi.

His brother Ritsu's instant response was, "Don't even try it."

"You don't even know who it is," Eichi replied.

"Same girl it's been for a few years now, right? Tenten." Ritsu shook his head. "Don't do it, little brother. She's not going to be interested."

Eichi scoffed. "Yeah right."

"No, I'm serious, man." Ritsu rolled his eyes. "Look, there are plenty of other kunoichi that are easier to go after. Just trust me when I say you won't get anywhere with Tenten."

But Eichi didn't believe him. His brother was prone to exaggeration and sometimes built up mountains from anthills just to screw with him. So he headed out to find a better source of information.

He decided to go right to Tenten's closest friend. He found Hyuuga Neji.

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><p>Neji was understandably confused - and not a little irritated - as to why someone wanted to know stuff about Tenten. So when Eichi came up to him and started asking about her, the prodigy had to keep his disinterested facade up in order to not show how much this disturbed him.<p>

He'd always known that Tenten was pretty. Hell, he'd noticed she was a girl long before anyone else did. But she was also his best friend, which had severely toned down the whole physical attraction thing.

Answering Eichi's questions was beginning to bring up that attraction all over again.

When Eichi finally left (with answers that Neji carefully changed to be absolutely useless) the Hyuuga prodigy sat down to meditate. He debated going to see Tenten and tell her about this newest interest, but then that would involve actually telling her about Eichi. And for some reason, he was hesitant to do that.

Because he was scared that she'd show interest in Eichi as well.

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><p>Tenten was understandably surprised - and not a little annoyed - to find out that someone wanted to know stuff about Neji. So when Miko showed up and started asking her about him, the weapons mistress had to put on a little face to keep from showing how much this was freaking her out.<p>

She'd always found Neji to be handsome. Hell, she'd thought that from the very beginning. But he was also her best friend, which had severely toned down that initial attraction.

Answering Miko's questions began churning up those feelings again.

After Miko left (with answers that Tenten changed to be completely useless) the weapons mistress decided to look for her teammate. She thought about telling him about him about this latest fangirl, but that would involve actually telling him about Miko. And Tenten was unwilling to do that.

Because deep in her heart, she feared that he'd show interest in Miko as well.

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><p>When Tenten walked up to Neji as he sat beneath his tree, both could see the hesitance in each other's eyes. Feel the tension. Sense the fear.<p>

Feel the feelings of attraction they'd long denied for each other.

"So, some guy came asking about you," Neji said, managing to sound offhand despite his throat going dry.

"Really." Tenten nodded casually, hiding the fact that her knees were about to go. "What a coincidence. Some girl came asking about you today."

"Really."

An awkward silence descended over the teammates. The thought that someone else found their teammate attractive was a real wake-up call for both shinobi. She couldn't help but stare at his chest. He couldn't help but stare at her eyes. Neither really looked each other in the eye.

"So," Tenten started.

Neji nodded. "So."

Another silence.

"I'm hungry," announced Tenten suddenly. "Wanna grab some lunch?"

Neji nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'll buy."

Together the prodigy and the weapons mistress headed back into town. While they walked, they slowly stepped closer, and closer, until the backs of their hands brushed against each other. A blush touched their cheeks, but they were careful not to look at each other.

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><p>The sight of them walking down the streets of Konoha, standing so close and almost holding hands, helped deter anyone else who wanted to approach them.<p>

Saiyuki Miko sighed and accepted her loss with grace. Matsumuri Eichi grinned and moved on to his next target. Both finally understood why they'd been told to not even try.

Then again, it should've been common knowledge by now.

The only people Hyuuga Neji and Tenten could ever be happy with...were each other.

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><p><strong>Aww, this was fun to write! Can you imagine the awkward? I could!<strong>

**Review!**


	17. Fortune

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #16 - She had to be smiling down on him. Nothing else explained how he managed to find the one person who could save him.**

**Words: 834**

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><p>Fortune was a fickle mistress.<p>

She sometimes showed favor to the most unusual people. Like Naruto; kid kept catching the breaks, but not without severe trials and close defeat. Likewise, she often didn't bestow her gifts to those who you'd think would deserve it; the death of the Third Hokage being one of them.

Fortune wasn't like Fate. Fate moved in certain ways, and there wasn't much you could do to change it once it happened. Fortune could be regarded as spontaneous, since you could make your own fortune if you tried hard enough.

But really, Neji thought, it wasn't like he was expecting Fortune to smile on him.

At first, he couldn't really see the upside of being practically killed by Kidomaru. Watching the corners of his vision get eaten by the blackness of unconsciousness, all he could think about was the unfairness of it all.

His weakness, the blind spot, had been found out. He'd been pushed beyond all physical limits, farther than any enemy had ever pushed him before. His Juuken techniques had all been rendered useless. And despite all these setbacks, he'd emerged victorious. With numerous wounds all over his body and a fatal shot to the gut.

It just wasn't fair. Luck had not been on his side.

Or had it?

He wasn't expecting to fight Hinata, although he believed (at the time) that Fate had reordained their match. He wasn't expecting to face Nartuo, although that match hadn't really turned out as he'd expected. But as luck would have it, fighting Hinata started the process of his resolving his underlying issues. Despite his unlucky loss, being defeated by Naruto meant that he finally resolved said issues.

And now he'd gone and done the impossible, and won. He took a long shot, and succeeded. _Fortune favors the bold_, as many would say.

So where was the favor?

That was a good question to think about as he fell into the black.

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><p>He woke up amid white. For a wild moment he thought he was in Heaven. Then he focused and saw a familiar bun-haired girl sitting beside his bed. "Tenten?" he rasped, unsure if it was really her.<p>

"Hey," she whispered. Neji was surprised to see tears leaking from her eyes as she smiled at him. "Welcome back."

"What...what happened?"

She swallowed hard. "You had to go through surgery. Massive. They had you in there for two days. But you're going to be fine."

_I was in surgery for two days? _Neji thought, shocked despite himself. And he'd be fine? Tsunade really was the best medic-nin to have working on you.

Then he noticed the paleness of her skin, the dark smudges under her eyes, and the overwhelming exhaustion in those soulful brown orbs. "How long were you waiting?" he asked.

Tenten had the grace to look sheepish. "I only left once, yesterday, when Lady Tsunade ordered me home. I've been here since six when they moved you into this room."

_What did I ever do to get you as a friend? _he almost said aloud. Thankfully he wasn't _that _doped up on painkillers.

But he did wonder. Was it fate or luck that he was put on Team Gai? Fate or luck that Tenten approached him to be her sparring partner? Fate or luck that she'd become, in truth, his first and best friend?

"Can I ask you a question?"

She smiled. "Yeah, sure."

Neji swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. "Remember when you first asked me to be your sparring partner?"

"Of course."

"What made you do it?" he inquired. He'd never really been curious about it before. Then again, now she was the only person sitting beside him while he was recovering from surgery.

Tenten thought about it carefully, but quickly. Her response surprised him. "Fortune favors the bold, I guess."

He blinked. "What did you say?"

"Fortune favors the bold. It means that when you take risks, sometimes you'll get lucky," she explained. "I took a risk asking you to be my partner. Good thing I did though, right?" A smile came to her face.

Neji nodded. "Very true." _And you have no idea how grateful I am that I took that same risk._

Fortune had to have smiled on him that day when Tenten came to him. Tenten, the one person who had seen him through everything. Tenten, who'd pretty much saved him from himself when nobody else gave a damn. It had to be the luckiest day of his life.

How else could he explain it?

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><p><strong>Awww. Tag-ins to "Fate" and Surgery."<strong>

**Please review! They show your love!**


	18. Balanced

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #17: Balanced - At first glance, nobody could understand how they worked together.**

**Words: 601**

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><p>Really, the pairing came out of nowhere.<p>

He was refined, elegant, powerful, and a coldhearted bastard with a stick up his ass. She was wild, free, somewhat normal, and a warm soul who had no dark side.

Hyuuga Neji and Tenten. When they were put on the same team, everybody and their grandmothers shook their heads and wondered what idiot thought putting them on the same squad was a good match up.

There were others. Other teams that could've been better. Other teammates that would've worked better. Always others, anyplace else but where they were with two taijutsu nuts who were already attached at the hip in a way that made Siamese twins look frickin' estranged.

But there they went, and there they stayed.

People expected fights. They got them. It was inevitable that they clashed. They were too different. But then the fights teetered off. Personally, it was thought that they just got sick of throwing insults. Unlike their other teammate, they were very mature for their ages.

But the skeptics still insisted that Neji and Tenten could not work together. That on their first mission, they'd bomb because they couldn't work as a team.

Not only did they succeed, but they succeeded without mishap. Shock and awe all around.

After a few more missions, a dynamic was noticed. Neji and Tenten began training with each other rigorously. They were seen with each other publicly. They started sticking up for each other in their own special ways (Tenten with words and Neji with glares) and watching each other's backs.

The skeptics were still unconvinced. After all, you could tolerate somebody on your team without actually liking that person.

It took many missions, many sparring sessions, and many more rumors before people began to believe they were good for each other. That they had the potential to be a formidable pair.

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><p>Yearly examinations for duty were a bitch. A fact that every shinobi griped about when their slot number came up. It was simple - show up, kick ass at the qualifications, get the green light, and return to active duty.<p>

Neji and Tenten were called in the same day. Their testing examiner was one of the skeptics who couldn't believe that they made a good team. So the fool set their qualification to be a two-on-one match against him.

And that's when he could finally lay everyone's suspicions to rest.

They were perfectly complimentary. Their styles, their attacks, even their movements around and with each other. Nothing was wasteful or blocking the other's movements. They never tripped up, slipped up, or screwed up each other's plans. It was like they'd rehearsed the entire fight sequence. That, or they had telepathy.

Or they were just very, very good at what they did.

When the test was over, the examiner approved them and watched them leave. Tenten was almost giddy with happiness, smiling at Neji and chattering away. He was silent, but a tiny smile graced his features and made him seem more human. While they walked away, the examiner watched Neji's arm reach over and drape across his teammate's shoulders, holding her in a semi-embrace as they continued back to their training grounds.

That's when it didn't matter anymore.

So what if people believed (truly) that they were complete opposites in everything?

They were well-matched for each other.

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><p><strong>Just something I loved and decided to publish. More on the way!<strong>

**Review!**


	19. Hands

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #18: Hands - It happened naturally, then progressed from there.**

**Words: 676**

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><p>The first time was when they were twelve. He was teaching her how to walk on water using chakra, since her control wasn't as fine as his, and she was getting impatient. He took her hand to guide her across the water, encouraging her one baby step at a time. Once it became as natural as breathing, he let go. They never spoke of it again.<p>

The next time it happened, she was hanging off a cliffside by the nails and he was trying to pull her up without killing both of them. His feet were latched onto the cliff by chakra alone, his fingertips splayed to reach Tenten's outstretched hand. It was scary the first few times he missed by inches, but finally their fingers tangled in a link he would never willingly break. The relief in her eyes was overflowing as he pulled her up from the side and into his arms, then climbed up to the top to safety.

After that, she started to sidle close to him and brush the back of her hand to his. But Neji never took it. Partly because it wasn't professional, and partly because he wasn't sure he could turn back if he went down this path. So he kept his distance and hoped they'd go back to being friends.

The next time, he was the one to initiate contact. During field surgery, he had to remain absolutely still for risk bleeding out. So he grabbed Tenten's hand and squeezed as the probe went deeper into his wound, gritting his teeth and staying rigid as a board. She held his hand in both of hers, giving as much comfort as she could.

Later, as they were heading home, he walked beside her and casually laced his fingers through hers. Tenten almost spoke, but decided against ruining the moment. So she only smiled happily and held his hand, not looking at him.

Soon they were seen holding hands in public. It always seemed that she initiated - when she saw something interesting, the weapons mistress would grab hold of Neji's hand and pull him along, the prodigy looking surprised at the sudden action. It got to become a normal occurance around Konoha, and the rumors quickly multiplied. They were just as quickly squashed, however, when nothing else was forthcoming.

It was a good few months before something changed between the partners. At Christmas, to be precise. The ever-popular mistletoe gag; shove two people who _should _be together, but aren't, under the little green sprig and watch the fireworks.

As according to plan, Tenten and Neji were "accidentally" pushed under the mistletoe to their great embarrassment. There were the customary jokes and cajoling from the peanut gallery, plenty of blushes from the participents, and more than enough anxiety about what was about to unfold.

So Neji, always a master of action, made the first move. Clasping Tenten's hand, he pulled her close and planted one right on her lips.

Shock made her freeze. Then her fingers curled around his and she responded to the kiss. The new couple laced hands and pulled their lips away amid wolf-whistles and cheers.

After New Year's, it became natural to see them walking through Konoha hand-in-hand. This surprised a lot of people, since Neji was not really the touchy-feely type. But he seemed to have a special exception for Tenten.

Years passed, just a few really, but enough to make people hope for a change. Which happened when, in front of God and everyone, Neji knelt in front of Tenten and held up a simple diamond ring and asked those four little words. At the wedding, once they grasped hands and obeyed the command, "Kiss the bride," everyone knew they wouldn't let go willingly.

It started out simply enough. Who knew it would lead so something so perfect?

Everyone in Konoha, that's who.

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><p><strong>Review please!<strong>


	20. Panicked

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #19: Panicked - "Prodigies don't panic," Kakashi admonished gently. "They just get flustered in a very dramatic fashion."**

**Words: 1,305**

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><p>It wasn't normal to see Hyuuga Neji with any expression but bland calm on his face. So when people noticed his unusual facial expression while he paced the width of the main hallway of Konoha Hospital, they started to take interest.<p>

He looked ready to freak out.

Which was preposterous. He was a Hyuuga. Hyuugas don't freak out. It just isn't how they're wired. It's like they're born with steel and ice in their veins. But here he was, a bona fide Hyuuga, looking more than a little rattled.

Sitting with him, Naruto watched the prodigy with a wary blue gaze. "Dude, take a chill pill. You're wearing a rut in the floor."

"Shut up," snapped Neji, not halting his pacing across the hallway.

The blond blinked at his sharpness, but let it slide. Neji was uncharacteristically edgy and nervous, and his behavior had been nothing but erratic for the last few hours. He deserved some slack. But only a little bit.

Lee, Shikamaru, Kiba and Akamaru showed up an hour later. They joined Naruto in watching the jonin continue his short back-and-forth journey across the hallway. "How long's he been doing that?" asked Kiba.

"Before she went in, about an hour," Naruto shrugged. "He started up again a little after Old Lady Tsunade threw us out, so...just about another hour."

"It shouldn't take this long," Neji muttered as he paced. "It doesn't normally take this long. Why is it taking so long?"

Kakashi sauntered up at that moment, his nose poked in his _Icha Icha Paradise _book. "Ah, I see we're still awaiting the girls," he remarked.

"Kakashi!" Naruto leveled a finger at the Hyuuga jonin. "Neji's freaking out. Can you please order him to relax or something before he has a panic attack?"

"I am not having a panic attack!" Neji shouted at the blond Kyuubi boy.

"I agree," Kakashi said suddenly. "Prodigies don't panic, per se. They are, however, prone to spectacular bouts of overreaction."

Neji's white glare was almost murderous. "Shut up, Kakashi," he growled out.

The silver-haired jonin wasn't fazed by the glare. Instead, he watched Neji pace with an unreadable look in his eye.

The doors banged open, startling the boys. But it was only Hinata, glaring angrily at her cousin with her Byakugan. "Neji-nii-san, you're distracting us!" she snapped at him. "Either stop pacing the hallway or GTFO right now!" With a last huff she spun around and slammed the door shut.

"You just got told," snickered Kiba, proud of his teammate and girlfriend's balls. "Now take a seat and take a chill pill, seriously. You're getting me all worked up, and it's not even my girl in there."

Neji plopped down on the couch, balling his fists on his knees and staring at the opposite wall like he wanted it to burst into dust. Pretty soon his leg was bobbing like he had a nervous tic. The motion annoyed Akamaru greatly, who simultaneously growled and whined with his ears laying flat against his skull. Naruto rolled his eyes. "Neji, stop fidgeting. Jeez, you're like a kid hopped up on sugar."

"You can't talk," Shikamaru said in a bored tone.

"Now now, don't be callous," chided Kakashi. "He's worried about Tenten."

"I still don't get why," Kiba said. "It's a simple enough procedure. Sakura's done it before, right?"

Neji had a twitch in his eye that was threatening to make him blink Morse code.

"If she was going through _labor_, that I'd get it," Naruto griped. "But to get this worked up over something like - "

"I _swear _to _God_, you guys," Neji ground out, finally unleashing the might of his Byakugan stare on the other males. "_Shut _the _hell _up or so help me, I Juuken your asses so bad you'll _wish _you were dead."

That's when the doors opened again to show Sakura, Ino, and Hinata. All three girls tore off their gloves and masks and faced Neji. "She's fine, you moron," said Ino, ever tactful and kind. "She's coming out of the anesthesia now - "

Neji bolted past her so fast there was an afterimage, like he'd left a shadow clone behind to listen to her. The boys blinked in surprise at his speed, as did Kakashi. Naruto was the one to state the obvious, as usual. "The hell was that about?"

Raised voices from behind Sakura drew their attention. One was Tsunade's and she sounded madder than a stuck elephant. "She needs to stay in the hospital for another day, Neji! On my orders!"

"No! She'll be fine with me!" Neji's raised voice replied, sounding firm and unyielding as a diamond wall. "I'll come back for the prescriptions, but I have to take her home now!"

Everyone waited with bated breath, awaiting the flying corpse that was the former Hyuuga jonin. Hinata blinked on her Byakugan and coughed. "Make a hole. Make a hole!" she ordered, clearing a path.

The doors burst open showing Neji, alive and unhurt, carrying a shivering Tenten in his arms like a child. She was barefoot and dressed in a flimsy hospital gown, her hair out of its customary buns and tumbled around her face. But the most surprising thing they all saw was how she was hanging onto him, her arms wrapped around his neck so tightly that it was a miracle he wasn't choking. "Neji," she whimpered, her face buried in his shoulder like a scared child. "Neji, it's bright, it stinks, I'm scared, I don't know..."

"S'okay Ten, s'okay," he said in a soothing voice. "I'm taking you home, it's okay, just hold on and don't open your eyes, okay?" Making remarkable speed, Neji was soon out of the hospital.

Tsunade came out just as Lee, who'd been remarkably silent the entire time, made a "huh" sound. "Wow, she did tell him."

"Tell him what?" asked Sakura. "Neji knew she was here. He brought her in."

"Didn't you know she reacts badly to general anesthesia?" Lee said, more to Tsunade than anyone.

The Hokage frowned. "Badly? How?"

"Nightmares. Vivid ones." The Green Beast sounded like he knew what he was talking about. "When she comes out of it, she's always confused and unsure of what's real and what's not. Neji's the only one who's been able to calm her down." He ignored everyone's surprised expressions and added, "Lady Hokage, I'll stop by the pharmacy and get Tenten's medications before I head over there." He took the prescription list from Tsunade and headed off, leaving the assembled chunins, jonin, and Kage.

Sakura spoke first. "She never said a word." The rest of them shook their heads in agreement. "I - I'm going to put it in her medical file."

"Makes you wonder what else he knows about her that nobody else does," Ino remarked.

Naruto looked at everyone, his blue eyes taking in every detail, before he spoke. "Wait a second, all that freaking out before was because he was worried about her going under?"

Kiba looked at him like he was stupid. "What did you think he was freaking out about?"

"I thought he was panicking because she was having her appendix removed!"

Kakashi chuckled as the rest of the shinobi facepalmed at the classic Naruto statement.

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><p><strong>Was funny, then kinda serious, then ended on a "Oh, Naruto!" moment! Flip-flopped there!<strong>

**Review please!**


	21. Perception

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #20: Perception - They each viewed life differently, but they agreed to differ.**

**Words: 667**

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><p>Tenten was convinced that her best friend was being a jerk on purpose just to spite her. But after ten minutes, she was almost willing to admit that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't playing the jerk card intentionally.<p>

Maybe he really couldn't take pleasure in life the way she could.

It had started as a harmless conversation. Somehow they'd wandered to the topic of favorite things, and Tenten began explaining the wonder she found in several aspects of nature and life in general. Unfortunately, she forgot her audience was a genius with all-seeing eyes who didn't really get the concept of "use your imagination."

"Rainbows are gorgeous!" she said.

"It's the refraction of light through tiny droplets of water in the air," Neji replied. "That's why you only see them after it rains and against rainclouds."

"Okay then, four-leaf clovers! They're magical and rare!"

He shook his head. "Just uncommonly rare. A genetic quirk."

Tenten set her mouth in a firm line. "I'll make you see reason yet."

"What reason? You attach random meanings to simple objects."

"Don't you have any pride as a human being?" she said.

Neji heaved a tired sigh. "Tenten, you're not making any sense again."

"Don't you believe in anything, Neji?" Tenten asked. Her anger faded, leaving a kind of sad curiosity at her teammate's sense of life and wonder. "Anything at all?"

He glanced at the sky and noticed a flock of birds winging their way south. "What do you believe in, Tenten?" he asked her, looking back at his friend. "Seriously. What do you see in the world?"

"I see wonder," she replied instantly. "I see surprises in everything, from the ocean to the sky to the people we come across every day. I see life in every forest, every lake, every bush and every tree. There's magic in everything, Neji, and not just because I attach meanings to things." The last part she flung back at him with scathing anger. "I truly believe in everyday magic."

Sighing again, Neji gave a tiny smile as he slanted a glance at her. "Then why is it so important that I believe in it?"

It was like asking a child. Her face again lost its anger, becoming innocent and honest. "Because if you don't believe in something amazing, how can you ever hope to find it for yourself?"

The Hyuuga prodigy looked at her as if assessing her response. She kept his gaze, refusing to back down first. He took a deep breath, exhaled through pursed lips, and began to speak.

"I don't believe in magic, Tenten. That's just how I am," he responded simply. "But," he added, seeing her face fall, "I do believe in miracles. Like you."

She perked up. "Me?" she repeated.

Neji nodded. "You. I believe in you, in what you are and who you are to me. You walked up to me and offered me something nobody else ever did - friendship. You gave me a reason to live on, to fight, to push myself beyond the bonds of my family and my seal and my past. You've guided me down a path I could never have found on my own. You're my miracle, Tenten." His smile was small, but full of emotions that made Tenten's breath catch. "That's all I ever need to believe in."

Overcome with emotion, she impulsively hugged him. Neji stiffened like a board in her arms, but Tenten persisted. Something so extremely personal deserved a hug. "That was really sweet of you," she whispered.

He shrugged a shoulder as best he could, the movement a little wooden because of her still hugging him. "I was telling you the truth."

"Don't ruin the moment with your logic."

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><p><strong>Awwwwww, Neji! So sweet with his logical frankness!<strong>

**Review please! Passed thirty, can we hit fifty? Maybe?**


	22. Emergency

**Disclaimer: I don't _Naruto._**

**Prompt #21: Emergency - One day, they pushed too far. Considering how long they've practiced together, it was bound to happen sooner or later.**

**Words: 657**

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><p>It scared everybody shitless, to tell the truth. Mostly because they were always so careful. Their routine was set, their limits carefully placed and then pushed to prevent something like this from happening.<p>

So when they burst into the hospital, holding each other up, covered in blood and yelling for a medic, it was a shock to all.

From what jumbled words could be understood through the panic and before the drugs took them under, they'd been training. Tenten had unveiled a new weapon she'd pilfered from a mission, some sort of explosive grenade launcher. For some reason it malfunctioned, and neither of them had been expecting it. Neji never had any chance to defend with _Kaiten_, and Tenten didn't have a chance to jump out of the way.

So they did what they always did. They tried to shield each other from the blast.

He had multiple lacerations, three kunai embedded in his back and torso, and a heavily bleeding gash on his head. She had a kunai in her leg, one in her side, and a bad burn that spread across her back and shoulders. Both could barely walk by themselves, so they had supported and practically carried each other back to the hospital. Both lost a lot of blood both from the blast and the subsequent trek to the hospital. When they collapsed in the ER, both insisted that the other be treated before they were.

Once they had been treated and everything had calmed down, Sakura rolled her eyes and exhaled. "Those two stupid idiots," she griped to Hinata and Ino as they washed the blood off their hands.

"They care about each other a lot," said Hinata. "I get that."

"There's a difference between care and blind desperate love," Ino replied. "Romantic, but not practical. Those two are usually practical."

Hinata rolled her eyes. _Spoken like two girls who have never known true love_. She knew how much her cousin cared about his bun-haired teammate, and likewise knew the depth of the weapon mistress's feelings for the prodigy. This was completely natural of them. Overblown, yes, but natural.

Picking up their lunches, Hinata headed in to check on her cousin first. As expected, Neji was already conscious and sitting upright in bed. His eyes lit up when he saw her. "Lady Hinata! Where's Tenten? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, Neji, she's fine," she reassured him, setting his lunch on the tray table. "Nothing fatal was hit. She's healing up nicely."

"I have to see her." Desperation shone in his eyes, mixed with pain and a true note of love that made Hinata feel ever-so-glad that her cousin had found someone to love as much as he did. "Please, Lady Hinata, I have to make sure myself."

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _As glad for him as I am, sometimes he's such a wuss. _"I'll see what I can do," she said.

Down in Tenten's room, she got the exact same response. Tenten, up and alert, demanding to see Neji. As she was slightly more mobile than he was, Hinata managed to get the weapons mistress into a wheelchair and pushed her and her collection of IV bags down the hallway into Neji's room.

It was clear that she did the right thing; both patients immediately brightened up upon seeing each other. Neji even willingly reached for Tenten's hand first, something that surprised Hinata. Feeling the moment become something intimate, the Hyuuga heiress quietly slipped out and closed the door behind her.

So what if they were stupid, lovesick idiots this once. It was bound to happen eventually.

Maybe next time it happened (gods forbid) they wouldn't overreact so badly.

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><p><strong>Hinata is a lot smarter than most people give her credit. Decided to make her the hardass in this, if just a little.<strong>

**Review please!**


	23. Light

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #22: Light - She was his guiding star, and as long as she burned, he'd continue to follow her.**

**Words: 399**

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><p>When people say, "Don't follow the light," they usually mean it in the "don't die" sense of the phrase.<p>

But Hyuuga Neji, he's always following a light. He has to, if he wants to survive.

All his life he's been stuck in a darkness of his own making. The darkness of the hate, despair, and loathing he felt for himself, his clan, and his destiny. It's too easy to fall back into that pattern, that spiral of black pitch which held him for over thirteen years.

Naruto managed to break through to him. Managed to make him see the prospect of something greater than just simply waiting for Fate and destiny to lead him down the road he doesn't want to take. Managed to put a bunch of cracks in that black diamond shell Neji had crystallized around his heart.

But Naruto could only start the process. Neji needed another person to keep him on that path. Someone he knew. Someone he trusted. He needed another light to follow.

That light is Tenten.

She's always been his star, ever since she began to show him that there was a life possible for him outside of his own black-coated prison. After his terrific ass-whupping by Naruto, Tenten was there with him every step of the way. She helped him move on. She gave him a reason to move on.

She lived in that world of light. A world he'd always wanted to enter, but never thought he could. The hate and despair he felt were wisps of black smoke, but strong as tempered links of steel. He couldn't find the strength to try for it without some sort of heading, a guide to set his sights on and never, ever look back on the man he'd once been.

She was, for lack of a better phrase, the light in his life. Yes, cheesy, but true. She was the first good thing that had ever happened to him. Even before he realized how much she meant to him, he knew she was the best thing he'd ever had.

As long as she was there for him, Neji would never regress. He'd never go back down that path again.

Not as long as he had her showing him the way.

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><p><strong>Another Neji introspective. Hope it's not too OOC.<strong>

**Review please!**


	24. Dark

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #23: Dark - He was always trapped in the blackness of his hate. So she held out her hand and has been leading him out ever since.**

**Words: 309**

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><p>Tenten never believed that someone could truly be lost. She was of the belief that, if given the right push and never abandoned, anyone could return from the hellish darkness of their pasts.<p>

Her teammate Hyuuga Neji is living proof of it.

The first time she saw him, she felt the black emotions swirling around inside him like a vortex of rage and despair. That night, she applied her talent for fortune-telling and tried to read his future. What she saw wasn't good.

Hate, darkness, death, and despair. A broken soul who would be destroyed by his own hatred. Unless something happened.

From day one, Tenten made it her mission to try and help this soul. At first, it was the little things. Asking his opinion for things, training with him, giving him a smile whenever she talked to him. They didn't make that big of a visual impact, but they were present.

Slowly, very slowly, Neji began to change. He frowned less and smiled a tiny bit more. He loosened up more once the Chunin Exams concluded. Their training sessions were just as rigorous, but sometimes she caught him actually enjoying their spars.

He still had a long way to go. Seeing Uchiha Sasuke succumb so quickly to his darkness only made Tenten realize that her efforts couldn't slake off. So despite Neji's obvious improvements, she kept leading him. She kept on trying to keep him moving forward, confronting the past only to resolve, not to dwell.

Tenten had worked damn hard to keep Neji from falling back into the cage of hate he'd been locked in for so long. She'd made excellent progress, if she did say so herself.

She wasn't about to let him go without a fight.

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><p><strong>Companion piece to "Light." Hope you like it!<strong>

**Review please!**


	25. Cage

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #24: Cage - His mark was a more confining prison than anything mortal men could ever construct.**

**Words: 509**

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><p>Sometimes what imprisons us is stronger than steel, harder than diamonds, and invisible as the breeze that floats past our eyes.<p>

Hyuuga Neji's prison isn't quite a tangible cage, but isn't quite an invisible one either. It's more a cage of the mind, but rooted in the image of the mark on his forehead. It's a prison built on the illustrious Hyuuga family's past and legacy, cemented in their traditions and superiority.

A cage of the past is a hard one to leave, much less destroy. It's familiar, and it's easy to want to crawl back inside when things get too much to deal with. The temptation to give up, to want to regress, is almost overwhelming.

It helps when you have something outside that cage to live for. Someone who wants you to stay outside with them, to live for yourself and not for something that you'd grown up despising.

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><p>It was late one night after a mission that the teammates found themselves with a rare bit of privacy. They were lying under a tree as Tenten was showing Neji the different constellations in the clear night sky.<p>

After a while, Tenten traced the green mark on his forehead with a serious expression on her face. Althought he'd expected the contact, Neji had to focus in order to not freak out. He kept his eyes closed, forcing himself to remain calm and to keep breathing steadily.

"Can it ever come off?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Nobody's ever tried. Or wanted to."

"It shouldn't be here." Tenten touched it gently, with no hint of hate in her voice. "You shouldn't have to live with it. Maybe Hinata will come up with something to get it off."

Once again, the prodigy couldn't believe how lucky he was. She always believed he deserved better. She always wanted better for him. For that, Neji was eternally grateful that he knew this headstrong, beautiful woman. She kept him from going back to the fate-chained, hateful boy he'd once been. She made the mark to be nothing more than that - a mark, something that could be overcome and possibly taken off.

Neji reached up to catch her hand, lacing his fingers between hers. "It's not all that bad anymore," he said softly. "I was always afraid I'd have to live my life alone. But now, I have you."

She pressed a kiss to his lips, soft as a butterfly's wing. "And I'll never leave you of my own choice, Neji," she promised.

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><p>His prison was hard to break out of, and every day is a struggle to stay out of it. He'll never be completely free of it. But it helps to have something worth fighting for.<p>

For Neji, he keeps fighting to stay with Tenten. And she fights just as hard to keep him close.

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><p><strong>Review please!<strong>


	26. Week

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #25: Week - The seven days following one of the most heated arguments between two highly skilled sparring partners were seven days that Konohagakure became a powder keg, awaiting the spark that could blow the whole village up.**

**Words: 1,885**

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><p>That first day, people noticed.<p>

The sun was bright, the sky a bright and clear blue. Neji and Tenten stalked back from their training session with a bitter, angry silence stretching between them. It was strange enough to draw attention from shinobi and civilians alike. Those two never fought. Ever.

But it seemed like they had, and about something big, because instead of heading for their favorite after-training spot, Neji and Tenten parted at the crossroads and stormed off for their respective homes on opposite sides of town. And for the rest of the day, neither was spotted anywhere near the other.

Nobody panicked, though. Friendship like theirs, it ran deep and strong. Fights were to be expected; in fact, several people were surprised it had taken so long for a serious fight to happen. But again, it was Neji and Tenten. Their bond was stronger than most people could ever hope to understand.

At the close of the day, when they still didn't seem to resolve whatever they were arguing about, everyone just shrugged and went to bed, confident that tomorrow would bring about a peaceful resolution.

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><p>The second day, people wondered.<p>

They had to. Neji and Tenten didn't train together that day. Lee had come running back into Konoha crying, straight to Sakura and proceeding to lament to the pinkette about his teammates' lack of youth and springtime joy. Their friends went to question the pair, but they got no answers.

Arguments weren't really this big of a deal. But the curious thing was that nobody knew what they had argued about. Neither Tenten or Neji would confide in anyone why they were behaving like the same poles of a magnet. This left people to gossip and speculate about the nature of their fight.

Did Neji start it, or Tenten? Did she say something insensitive, or were his words offensive? Were ultimatums given? Was family involved? Did he storm off first? Did she?

So many questions, not enough answers.

The day ended with the pair returning from their solo training sessions, seperating again in silence for home. Only a few of the Konoha Twelve paused to wonder about them, and hope that this passed soon.

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><p>The third day, people questioned.<p>

Again, the pair didn't train together. Neji was seen waiting by the front gates, but Tenten didn't show. He waited for almost two hours before giving up and walking back home.

Likewise, Tenten made an appearance at the training grounds to wait for Neji. When he didn't arrive, she went home. They barely missed each other, but miss they did.

Now it wasn't just the Konoha Twelve who were showing signs of worry. Various citizens were clearly anxious about the pair's sudden separation. Nothing like this had ever happened before. They'd always patched things up in a day, if not in a couple hours. This long a break was unheard of.

Konohagakure wasn't often affected by the day-to-day workings of its inhabitants, but Neji and Tenten's fight had spread to every corner of the village. By the end of the day, people were bracing themselves for one hell of a storm. Since this was a new experience for all, who knew what would happen before a peaceful resolution was reached.

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><p>The fourth day, people got concerned.<p>

Tenten was seen walking around with dark smudges under her reddened eyes. Neji grew even more sullen and taciturn than usual. Again they avoided each other like the plague, and this time people could see the lenghs they went to accomplish that. Knowing each other as well as they did, Neji and Tenten managed to completely avoid seeing even a hint of each other the entire day - not easy to do in a village like Konohagakure.

The unfortunate thing about friends in fights? Their friends get caught in the middle. Lines are asked to be drawn, sides demanded to be taken. Hinata was in a particularly tough place because of her relationship with both sides, cousin to one, friend to the other. More than once she was seen close to tears.

People in the know - hardened shinobi who had seen it all - knew this had to end soon. A fight like this did more than brew anger; it damaged people emotionally. Emotional wounds didn't heal as fast as physical ones, if they healed at all. And if they did, the trust was never truly the same.

By day's end, everyone was fervently hoping that this whole affair would blow over in the next few days. Neji and Tenten weren't the only ones suffering.

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><p>The fifth day, people cowered.<p>

The aura around the former training partners was turning toxic with their anger and grief. It had been days since they'd spoken to each other. Longer than anyone could ever remember them not exchanging words. Longer than anybody had ever seen them apart.

Konohagakure visibly shuddered at the change. Whatever the argument, for it to have caused a rift in two such close friends as Neji and Tenten...it was an event that people never thought possible.

Even those close to the pair were beginning to bear the brunt of it. Neji was caustic with everyone who spoke to him, be they friend or family, and frequently looked ready to Juuken whatever unfortunate soul dared to cross him. Tenten treated them like a petulant child would, studiously ignoring all attempts at communication. When someone did try to break her shell, she fixed them with such a glare that it rivaled the stare of an angry panther.

It was clear to all who they were really waiting for. Who they wanted to show up, and apologize, and put this whole thing behind them.

But they were too proud to be the other's friend. So the day passed without its due resolution.

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><p>The sixth day, people expected war.<p>

Confrontation was inevitable. In truth, many were expecting them to clash earlier.

Their paths crossed on the way to the Hokage's office. Both halted in their tracks. Tenten's hand went for a hidden weapon. Veins bulged around Neji's narrowed Byakugan eyes.

"What are you doing here?" she snarled at him. "Aren't you supposed to be holed up in your little penthouse pad for the week?"

Neji's sneer had never been directed at her before, but it was now. "What about you? Had enough staring at the four walls of your tiny apartment?"

Those people who were watching this confrontation were backing away slowly. Although they were civilians, the key rule was still enforced: When caught between two angry, ferocious beasts, don't make any sudden moves and back away slowly if you want to live.

Some more words were had between them. Vicious words, harsh as acid over open sores doused with salt water. Hateful words that rang hollow and false to everyone else, words spoken in rage and sadness and pain and fear. Words that, once released, couldn't be called back.

It took seven jonin to restrain Neji. Five were needed to keep Tenten back.

At the end of the day, they were escorted back to their homes with their orders, and Konohagakure held its collective breath and prayed that nothing would happen overnight.

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><p>The seventh day, people feared the worst.<p>

They left for their seperate missions, still angry with each other. The ones who had seen them had nothing promising to say - Neji still looked far too pale and tired to be considered fit for duty, and Tenten had seemed almost lost within her own skin. Neither should have been sent on their missions, but being short-handed meant that there was no other choice.

Even Lady Tsunade was hesitant about seperating the arguing pair, but she had no choice in the matter. Their skills were needed desperately, and if they couldn't work together, they had to work alone. Neji went to help settle a rebellion against an unpopular feudal lord, taking the side of the rebels. Tenten was given bodyguard duty to protect a princess against assassins who wanted her father's throne.

They didn't even say goodbye to each other. Just looked away and took off, him one way, her the other. Not a look, not a word.

Rather than relax in their absence, Konohagakure tensed up even more. Sending two already stressed shinobi into such stressful environments was not sound logic, and there was the fear that one or both of the pair would come back severely injured, or worse, not come back at all.

The day closed with people hoping, and praying, and daring to believe that somehow the prodigy and the weapons mistress would return safe, sound, and sane enough to fix what had been broken.

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><p>When they returned two days later, it was raining.<p>

They came back beaten and bloody, tripping over their own feet and barely conscious. Neji resembled a punching bag spattered with broken blood bags, while Tenten was practically unrecognizable with her hair unevenly chopped and her body battered. They entered the village through seperate gates, each too proud to ask if their partner had made it back. Or too scared to ask if they made it back at all.

Someone must've saw and told them both, because then Neji was seen booking it across Konoha towards Tenten's point of entry, and she fought off the people helping her in to bolt for Neji's last known. As if drawn to each other, back to being opposite poles on a magnet, they sought each other out with the precision of the best trackers.

When they saw each other, all the previous week's anger and grief and pain was forgotten. Her eyes brimmed over with tears as his lips formed her name. Slipping in the rain and over their own blood, the partners closed the distance between them as fast as was possible in their conditions and fell into each other's arms.

She cried in his hair. He held her tight. Apologies flowed faster than snow-swollen rivers from them both, for the argument and the hateful words and for just not being there faster, sooner, to be there for each other.

They were transported to the hospital separately. But once they were squared away (and amid dozens of pleas and threats from both parties) Neji and Tenten were placed in the same room. At the end of the day, they fell asleep with their arms stretched towards each other, holding hands.

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><p>It had been a long week for Konohagakure.<p>

But now, the storm was over. All was forgiven between Tenten and Neji.

Time for them to recover.

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><p><strong>Whew, hit the halfway mark! *toss some confetti and shuriken stars*<strong>

**Review please!**


	27. Onsen

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #26: Onsen - The sight of a teammate you may be crushing on in a towel is something you might be slightly uncomfortable with. Especially if you and said teammate are alone.**

**Words: 1,292**

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><p>Shinobi are taught to expect the unexpected. Never let down your guard, never get caught in a lull of false security, and always assume that something will pop out of nowhere at any given moment.<p>

Paranoid? Maybe, but it keeps shinobi alive.

Hyuuga Neji and Tenten lived, ate, and breathed their shinobi training. They were always on high alert. Never taking any type of lull for granted.

But sometimes, not even the best ninjas can predict what life can throw at them.

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><p>Their mission was a vicious one involving the suppression of an evil warlord and his personal guard of highly trained mercenaries. They'd gotten pretty beat up, but luckily they weren't badly injured. The warlord had been taken down quite efficiently, his guard beaten and humiliated by two teenage shinobi.<p>

Okay, by the Hyuuga prodigy and the Weapons Mistress of Konohagakure. But still, being beat by two eighteen-year-old ninjas had to be humiliating for any caliber of mercenary.

The nearby village, in their gratitude, gave the two shinobi a comped room at an onsen. One room. Two futons, but a single room.

By itself, this raised no red flags. Or even any awkward flags. Having been teammates for almost six years, Neji and Tenten had grown used to sharing cramped quarters with each other. In fact, a single room was spacious for them because there was no Lee or Gai to spontaneously flail across the floor while caught in their youthful dreams. Once Neji fell asleep ne never moved, and Tenten's method of sleep was to curl in a ball.

After settling sleeping arrangements they unpacked, settled in, and seperated to relax in their own ways. Neji started his meditation, while Tenten went to take advantage of the onsen services. The mission had been grueling and stressful, and both needed to decompress. They still had a long way to go to get home.

When she was preparing to get into the hot spring, Tenten realized that she'd left her change of clothes back in their room. The clothes she'd been wearing had been taken by housekeeping to be cleaned - there's a limited window of time to get soot and bloodstains out of linen before it sets and ruins the fabric. There was no big hurry to go back and get them, so Tenten merely hung her robe by the door of the onsen, folded the towel she'd worn around her body to rest atop a rock, and slid into the hot, steamy waters of the hot spring. A sigh of utter bliss and contentment escaped her lips as she sank to her shoulders below the waterline.

When Neji finished his meditation, he found Tenten's change of clothes resting on her futon. Figuring that she'd forgotten to bring them along, he figured that he ought to do his teammate a favor and drop them in her basket. He'd already changed into a light cotton yukata, so he figured that he'd take advantage of the onsen as well. So the Hyuuga boy gathered up his things and headed for the hot spring.

Neither shinobi realized that they would soon fall prey to a cruel trick of nature. A kingsnake had managed to get inside the establishment and found its way into the onsen. Being cold-blooded and in need of moisture, it naturally headed towards the warmest, wettest place in the onsen - the hot spring itself.

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><p>Tenten felt something glide past her foot and instantly froze. Moving to as not to startle whatever it was, she reached for a weapon. Unfortunately, her weapons had gone the way of her dirty clothes. She was alone, unarmed, and naked in the hot spring with some unidentifiable living thing sharing the water with her. The steam and the murkiness of the water made it impossible for her to tell exactly what the thing was and she wasn't about to stick out her hand to find out.<p>

Her mind was already churning out several possible scenarios. Most prominant was some sort of poisonous aquatic creature - nevermind that there were very few animals that would willingly crawl into a hot spring. Another was that there was a ghost; although she wasn't as terrified of spirits as Naruto was, the thought that one was occupying the water with her made the girl's skin crawl. Still another was that there was some sort of pervert in the water, but she was confident that she was alone.

That just left either poisonous creature or ghost. Neither option was particularly charming.

Swallowing hard, Tenten slowly inched towards where her towel was resting. If she could grab it, maybe she could run before...

Whatever was in the water suddenly got a grip around her ankle. Already worked up into a terror, Tenten screamed, "NEJI!"

Neji was already on his way when he heard Tenten's scream. He immediately dropped everything and bolted for the source of the scream. "What happened?" he shouted, bursting into the hot spring with his Byakugan activated.

"Neji!" she screamed again. All he saw was the brunette frozen at the edge of the hot spring, a look of abject terror on her face. "Water - leg - something slimy - "

"What?"

"There's something in the water and it's got me!" she squealed, her eyes squeezing shut. "Get it off me, please!"

The situation demanded speedy action, so Neji bodily pulled his teammate out of the water, wrapping her protectively in his arms. Her body transferred water to the front of his yukata, soaking the thin fabric relatively quickly. Casting his Byakugan into the water, he spotted the intruder within a few seconds. "Tenten, it's just a snake."

"Snake?" she yelped, clutching Neji's shoulders tighter.

"It's not poisonous," he assured her, rubbing her shoulders. "Relax, it won't hurt you. It probably just wanted to get in the water, same as you."

Then the particulars of the situation came to the forefront of the teammates' minds. Like how Tenten was wearing nothing but a towel while Neji only had on a thin yukata, both of which were sopping wet. Being healthy adults with more than platonic feelings for each other (though those feelings had not yet been voiced) their close embrace was surprising, to say the least. Identical blushes stained their faces bright red.

Neji spoke first. "Y-Y-You all r-r-right now?" he stammered, looking away from Tenten.

She nodded. "Yeah. Fine. Just...fine," she finished lamely. Gesturing to the changing room she added, "I'm just gonna go...you know..."

"Yeah, um, I brought your clothes," he answered. They both stepped away, pointedly not looking at each other. "They're, uh, probably in there..."

"Thanks. So I'll, uh..."

"Yeah, I'll go back to..."

Before either could make an even bigger fool of themselves, both shinobi made their hasty and somewhat dignified escape.

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><p>Shinobi are taught to expect the unexpected. Cliched, but true. The instant you think you're safe, that's when your enemy can jump out from behind a rock and gouge your heart out with a spoon. Or some<p>

But there are some things you never truly expect the universe to throw at you.

Sometimes you really don't want to find out how you react in some situations.

But then again, Karma has been known to have a mischievous bitch streak in her.

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><p><strong>This one just ran away from me like Naruto from a ghost.<strong>

**Review please!**


	28. Survival

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #27: Survival - It's surprising the lengths one will go in order to stay alive in a hazardous environment.**

**Words: 1,094**

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><p>"Shit," Neji swore, looking out at the driving white winds that were quickly covering the landscape in white powder. "We overslept. Or the storm moved faster than expected."<p>

"What does that mean?" asked Tenten, joining him next to the window. "Oh. Damn." They shared a look and heaved identical sighs. "I'll go grab what firewood I can," she said, pulling on her coat and scarf.

"I'll make sure everything's sealed up," Neji replied, locking the front door and moving to lock the shutters.

Luckily they managed to batten down before the snowstorm really got going. The cabin they'd found wasn't in complete disrepair, but it was clear that nobody had lived there in some time. But there were no holes in the roof or leaks in the foundation, so that was definitely a plus. They also had enough blankets and firewood to tide them over for the night. Between the two of them, the jonin was completely certain that they would be able to pass the night in relative comfort and security.

Tenten stumbled back inside fifteen minutes later. Ice and snow caked her clothes, making her resemble a snowman. "Couldn't grab much," she gasped, dumping her skimpy armload on the floor. "Rest of it's wet and useless. Think this can last us the night?"

"If we don't expend too much of our own heat, maybe," Neji said clinically. He checked their food and water. "We need to ration everything, but I'm pretty sure we can make this last and still have enough to make it home."

An exasperated groan made him glance over at his teammate - then just as quickly look away when he saw she'd divested herself of her jacket, shirt and pants at an alarming speed, leaving her standing in shorts and a tank top. "What the hell, Tenten?"

"What?" she said with a completely innocent tone of confusion. "I'm freezing, and I'll get hypothermia in those wet things. I've got a spare set of clothes, just don't look this way for a bit."

Neji steadfastly kept his back turned. Her logic was sound, and his mind knew that. His body and hormones, however, were giving him hell for not taking advantage of the opportunity to check her out.

He'd always known that Tenten had a toned form. Training with her every day had burned all but the most necessary body fat from her body, making her all muscle and sinew with callused palms and the smoothest skin he'd ever seen. He also knew she was extremely pretty. Maybe not beautiful, but definitely a looker worthy of a double-take when she bothered to clean up and look her gender.

Being a Hyuuga, he could appreciate these things and be logical about it. Being a hot-blooded male, however, he couldn't believe he hadn't jumped her bones yet.

"Okay Neji, I'm decent." He turned to see that she was wearing her backup outfit, her hair loosened from her buns and dripping with moisture. "So, what now?"

He was still floored by the fact that she was this beautiful and he hadn't realized it until just now. Aloud he said, "Let's get everything settled and hunker down for the night."

"Okay."

This took very little time to accomplish. Soon they were sitting in front of the fireplace, huddled as close as they dared to the flames and each other. Neji was doing his best not to sneak looks at his teammate and stared very resolutely into the fire's depths. It worked - for the most part. And the dancing flames did him a world of good for relaxation purposes; they were hypnotizing, lulling him into a sense of peace and security...

"...ji...Neji...Neji!"

His eyes flew open in shock. "What? What is it?" he asked, turning to face Tenten - and almost blacking out. The world spun around him, righted, then sharply tilted again. _What the hell?_

"I think you're getting sick, Neji," Tenten said. She still sounded a little freaked out, her voice a full octave lower than what he was used to hearing. It made her sound sexy and mysterious and _Dear gods,_ _I didn't even know I was that perverted. Damn Naruto and his stupid dirty books_. "Just lie down, okay? Maybe it'll be better if you rest."

Neji nodded, winced at the pain, and started to lie down. But again his sense of balance wouldn't cooperate. Another spin, and this time the blackout stayed a blackout.

He suddenly felt very, very cold, his teeth chattering like a jackhammer as he tried to find something, anything in the darkness that would make him warm again. He reached out, but felt nothing but the cold hard walls of black. Neji wasn't big on panic, but the darkness and closeness of the walls was making him a bit claustrophobic.

Then there was something warm grabbing his hands. He instinctively leapt for it, wrapping it in his arms like a hot water bottle and burying his face in it. Calm at last, he closed his eyes again and lost consciousness.

Imagine his shock when he woke up some hours later to find him spooning with Tenten. Needless to say, that would have been really awkward. Would have been, if she'd actually been awake when he woke up. Breathing a small sigh of relief, Neji shifted slightly and settled himself to be more comfortable.

A stray thought made him notice how well Tenten actually fit in his arms. Nestling closer, he saw how peaceful she looked, her face slack with rare vulnerability. She was always so strong, he thought, especially when they trained. It was nice to see her so relaxed around him, even if it wasn't of her own free will.

_Or_, he thought, _maybe it was_. She didn't sleep in front of people at all. Sakura and Hinata used to joke with her, saying she was no fun at sleepovers. The fact that Tenten was so comfortable that she managed to sleep beside him spoke volumes of her trust in him.

_A trust I won't betray_, he said firmly to his raging hormones. Letting his eyes slide shut again, Neji tightened his arms slightly and slipped back into sleep.

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><p><strong>This...eh, it morphed, what can I say?<strong>

**Review please! Show me some love!**


	29. PDA

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #28: PDA - In all fairness, Naruto hadn't really expected him to actually _do _it.**

**Words: 653**

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><p>Very rarely was Naruto in a place of power over someone. It just didn't happen. One of the simple facts of Konohagakure - the sun is yellow, the sky is blue, and Uzumaki Naruto was not smart enough to find something to hold over another person.<p>

But now he had, and he was lording that power for all he could.

"C'mon Neji, you can't tell me that you've never even held Tenten's hand in public!" he shouted, leaning forward with shocked interest at the genius's admission.

Neji (who was regretting the outburst that had led to this interrogation) sighed. "I'm not good with that crap, Naruto. You know that."

"Hugged? Held hands?" Naruto tried. When no response came forth, the blonde whistled long and low. "Wow, dude, no wonder she's pissed at you. Women need to know that they're loved."

"Do _not _even _start _giving _me _relationship advice," Neji warned him. "Not when you're in the fox hole with Sakura eight days a week on average."

Naruto scowled. "Fox hole? Seriously?"

"It's more appropriate than doghouse, right?"

He considered that. "True. Besides, that's Kiba's place when Hinata gets pissed at him. But my point is this!" he said, getting back on track with remarkable speed. "Tenten's good at understanding you, but she's not a damn mind reader. You have to show that you care about her!"

"But she _knows_ I care about her."

Naruto shook his head and made an X with his arms. "Not the point! Other people don't think that!"

"Since when do I give a damn about what other people think?" Neji asked him rhetorically, getting somewhat annoyed.

A facepalm was the reaction. "Hyuuga Neji, it's not about what _you _think," Naruto explained veeeeeery slowly, like he was teaching an idiot. "It's about what other people, particularly your _girlfriend_, think what you think. And I'm telling you straight up, most people think you're being a cold-hearted ass."

Neji scowled, now thoroughly confused. "All because I won't hold Tenten's hand in front of people? What kind of messed-up reasoning is that?"

"Don't question it, man. Trust me. The point is, you have to _show _that you care if you want to have any chance of keeping Tenten yours." Naruto waggled his eyebrows somewhat suggestively. "She's not exactly hard on the eyes, get my drift?"

Judging from the look in Neji's eyes, the genius did. Very much so.

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><p>Naruto was, shall we say, a motivator. He'd made the majority of his friends from enemies he'd talked sense into while smacking them senseless. Motivational speaking came naturally to him.<p>

So when Neji walked up to Tenten the next day and threaded his fingers with hers, the blond-haired boy smiled his victory fox-like grin. _Score one for me,_ he thought with some measure of pride.

Then his blue eyes widened when Neji took it a step farther and pulled Tenten into a passionate embrace, kissing his girlfriend senseless as the crowd whooped and wolf-whistled and cheered him on.

"What on earth did you say to him?" Sakura asked Naruto as she came up next to him, unable to take her eyes off the stunningly romantic scene in front of her.

Naruto, trying to speak past his astonishment, managed to choke out, "I just stressed how important it was to hold her hand in public..."

Sakura whistled in surprise. "Wow. Imagine what would've happened if you tried to convince him to kiss her in public."

The blond boy groaned. "My luck? Public indecency would be the least of that trouble."

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><p><strong>Seriously, with Naruto's track record of making friends, he has to be a pretty motivational speaker. Just saying.<strong>

**Review please!**


	30. Heartstopping

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #29: Heartstopping - There was blood everwhere, and he couldn't find her. There were bodies all over, and she couldn't find him.**

**Words: 548**

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><p>Panic doesn't come easy to shinobi. Early on, it's ingrained in cadets that panic is more dangerous than inexperience and hesitation combined. Panic is ground out of the cadet, and its absence reinforced with repeated exposure to situations that could instill it.<p>

Because of this, it often takes a lot of fear and desperation to awaken that urge to run around like a headless chicken.

But sometimes, if the right people are in danger, it's a hell of a lot easier to fall into that panic.

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><p><em>Where is he?<em>

The air smells like salt and rust and copper. Like the fresh blood that soaked into the ground.

_Where is he?_

You can't see him. Can't sense him. But you refuse to panic yet.

_Where are you, Neji?_

He's got to be around here somewhere. He can't be too far. You'd know. You'd know if anything had happened to him.

_Come on Neji, give me a sign._

He can't be gone. You wouldn't know what to do with yourself if he was gone.

"Tenten!"

That voice. It came from behind you. "Neji!" you yell, spinning around to peer through the smoke that hung over the ground in a thin haze.

There! Across the field, a familiar shape in familiar clothes, once pristine white, now stained red.

You don't dare believe until his arms clutch you tightly in an embrace that convinces you of what your eyes couldn't believe.

_He's alive_.

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><p><em>Where is she?<em>

The ground is littered with metal, blood, and bodies. Like the floor of a psychopathic child's toyroom.

_Where is she?_

You don't know where she could be. You'd been seperated during the attack.

_Where are you, Tenten?_

She's got to be around here someplace. She couldn't have just disapppeared. You'd know if she was...if she was...

_Please Tenten, give me something to work with._

She can't be gone. You couldn't go on without her.

A flash of chakra caught your Byakugan's attention. A familiar chakra signature. Could it be...

"Tenten!"

"Neji!" It's her voice. You'd know it anywhere. Even blind, you'd know it was her.

You turn to see her standing amid the smoke of the battlefield, a lone figure in a field of death.

She's staring at you like she can't believe it's actually you. Before you can react, she's running towards you, and your feet are racing to meet her.

You don't stop to question until she's safe and sound in your arms.

_She's alive_.

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><p>Panic does not come easy to shinobi. Especially not to well-trained and experienced shinobi like Neji or Tenten.<p>

But when it comes to each other's safety, sometimes they can't help but be deathly afraid.

It showed that they are still human.

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><p><strong>Review please!<strong>


	31. Cohabitation

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #30: Cohabitation - You know it's happened when you have to ask, "Whose brush is this?"**

**Words: 260**

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><p>"Ten?"<p>

"What?"

"We have a problem."

"What is it? I'm busy."

"Which hairbrush is yours?"

"...What?"

"Brush. For hair. Which one is yours?"

"Why?"

"Because there are four here and I can't tell offhand which one is mine."

"Wait, when did we get four?"

"You lost one, then we replaced it, then I lost one - "

"No, I mean, four? Really?"

"Can you just answer the question?"

"Okay, what colors are they?"

"Two black, one's got pink piping - "

"That's mine, definitely."

" - and this last one's got a couple missing teeth."

"I remember that one. It's trash."

"Okay." _CLANG! _"That leaves two. Which is mine?"

"Ummmmmmmmm...does one have blue on it somewhere?"

"Ummmmmmmmm...not that I can - wait! Yeah, a blue sticker."

"That's yours."

"How d'you figure?"

"We stuck little blue stickers on your stuff after we figured out that your stuff gets regurgitated faster in this house than mine does."

"So, blue sticker is mine?"

"Yes."

"Okay...Ten?"

"What now?"

"Then who owns this last black brush?"

"...I have no f*ckin' clue."

"Fine. I'm chucking it." _CLANG! _"I'll head out first, okay?"

"Sure. I'll meet you there."

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><p><strong>Sooooo pointless and fluffy and made my inner fangirl go SQUEEE! God, I'm sooo deprived.<strong>

**Review please!**


	32. Run

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #31: Run - When the hawk came in, he dropped everything and booked it right back to her side.**

**Words: 750**

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><p>The ANBU squad pulled up late one day outside the village of Ibika near the Konoha-Iwa border. Making sure that their traps were set, the five youngest settled down and moved their red-and-white animal masks to half-cover their faces to better see in the encroaching darkness as the older ninja started planning for the next day's work.<p>

"Jin, Inu, start up a fire," said the leader, calling them by their code names. "Kitsune and Haku, you're on lookout. Chou, start prepping the meal."

"This is so troublesome," mumbled "Jin", pulling out his lighter and starting a small fire.

"Quit bitching, Nara," snapped "Inu" as he stretched out the kinks in his muscles. "I wanted to bring Akamaru, but apparently he's too noticeable."

"Chou" gave him a pointed glare as he crunched on a carrot. "Dude, he's as big as a small pony. Noticeable is putting it lightly."

The only one of them still completely masked glared at them through his fox mask. "Knock it off, you guys," he hissed. "I hear something running up to us."

As they'd all learned, when "Kitsune" heard something, you shut up fast. "Haku" turned to stare into the darkness. "I see something small," he said. "Moving fast."

"Enemy?" asked one of the seniors, drawing a kunai.

"No, too small. Maybe a messenger."

Twenty seconds later, his hunch was right. From out of the foliage came a familiar ninja dog. "Got a message here," said Pakkun.

The leader strode forward. "I'll take it."

"Not for you. For one of your newbies." Pakkun looked right at "Haku" and said, "She said to tell you, "Hurry home. It's time." "

None of the senior shinobi understood it, but the five youngest looked like they'd been slapped upside the head. "When did it start?" asked "Inu".

"Just as I left...seven hours ago," Pakkun reported.

"This op can't end any sooner than four days," "Jin" calculated. "You won't make it if you stay."

"Haku" looked at their leader, moon-pale eyes pleading. "Sir?"

The leader quickly did the mental math. With ten shinobi under him, sending "Haku" back wouldn't really put a dent in their ability to finish the job. They'd planned for this before they left Konoha. Plus, he understood the shortness that an ANBU member had to fully appreciate life. "Go."

The boy was gone before the word made an echo.

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><p>After sixteen excruciating hours of labor, Tenten was about to just throw in the towel. A landmark moment for her, but the pain was close to her threshold of pain. She was weak, and tired, and close to passing out from the sheer exhaustion.<p>

So when she heard the doors slammed open and a black-clad ANBU operative burst into the hospital room, a weak smile broke over her pale face. "Bout time you got here," she gasped out. "Get lost on the way home?"

He ripped off his mask and quickly grabbed her hand in both of his. "Knock it off," Neji breathed between gasps. "Focus on what you need to do."

"What about the mission?"

Neji tightened his grip on her hand. "Tenten, this is the most important thing that will ever happen in my entire life. They knew I might have to leave them and they planned for it. I planned for it. The mission will get done."

"Honestly...didn't think you'd make it," she gasped, feeling another contraction.

He flashed that cocky crooked grin of his. "I promised that I'd be back in time. Why in gods' names would I miss this?"

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Now buck up, Hyuuga Tenten, and don't give up on me. Bring our child into the world; I want to meet him."

"You and me both," she breathed weakly, her doe-brown eyes half-closed.

Sakura popped in with Ino, pulling on fresh gloves and checking Tenten and the baby's vitals. "All right Ten, looks like you're ready," said the pink-haired medic. "Now when I say push, you push, got it?"

Tenten nodded, bracing herself and gripping Neji's hand so tightly that it went numb. "Okay."

"All right, wait...wait...waaaait...okay, push now!"

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><p><strong>Okay, this was an infusion of future fluff that needed to be written as a stress relief. Hope you like it!<strong>

**Review please!**


	33. Coldhearted

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #32: Coldhearted - It's well known that he's an emotionless rock with a body carved by gods. But he has his rare moments.**

**Words: 643**

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><p>Nobody was ever really sure that Hyuuga Neji was truly human.<p>

Why wouldn't they think that? He always had that emotionless expression on his face. He never laughed. He never smiled. He appeared to be an emotionless being. A shinobi through and through.

Some people would think that he liked being cold and unreadable. It clearly got him points with his superiors and the females; the first admired the talent as a useable trait in the field, while the latter cooed over the trait and thought him mysterious and, by default, sexy as hell.

But there's only one person who knows otherwise. One person in the entire village of Konohagakure.

That person is his best friend, Tenten.

Not that she knew from right off the bat. It was only after a year training with him, learning his ticks and tells and traits, that Tenten could even begin to scratch the surface of Neji's mask. It took another year before she could even hope to understand the flashes of emotion that fought to break out from behind that mask. Even after five years, she couldn't truthfully say that she knew the real Neji.

But she was close. Closer than anyone else in Konoha, even closer than his own family.

It wasn't because she had his heart, or caught his attention, or even thought she could read him better than anyone else. No, Tenten didn't have those delusions. She knew why she had the most insight into Neji's true character, and it wasn't because of anything she could or couldn't do. It had more to do with Neji.

Because he let her get that close.

He let her in, carefully, slowly, like a swamp lily opening in the moonlight. She had to move carefully so as not to spook him back into his shell. One step too far, one move too obvious, and Neji would pull away faster than a nervous kitten. A nervous, feral, but stone-eyed kitten capable of poking a man to death. Literally.

Tenten didn't rush, didn't push, didn't even nudge farther than necessary. She just sat, and waited, and smiled. She was there for him in any way she could be.

And although nobody could ever tell by looking at him, Neji was forever grateful that she stayed.

He knew his bad points even better than he knew his good points. He knew the shields he put up forced him into a lonely existance, with people who thought him distant while girls found him desirable (though for what reason they got to that conclusion, he had no clue). He knew his attitude made it difficult for anybody to want to get close to him.

Which is why he was forever indebted to Tenten for trying.

She didn't have to, gods knew that. She could have focused on her own training and left well enough alone. But this clanless panda-haired girl somehow managed to get under his skin so subtly that the first time he noticed how far she'd gotten, he didn't even think of her intrusion as an irritance. He thought of it as a somewhat comforting addition, like finding out a stray cat had moved into his home and was clearing out the rats.

So he tried. He tried to let her in. He tried to break through his masks and show the world his true self.

Hyuuga Neji didn't show his humanity much, but he was getting better at it. But some habits die hard, and his natural instinct to present a false face to the world was strong.

But thankfully Tenten was always there to keep him from slipping too far back.

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><p><strong>Review please!<strong>


	34. Oxymoron

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #33: Oxymoron - "How the hell can you call something that attacks your vital organs Gentle Fist? What idiot Hyuuga thought up that dumbass name?"**

**Words: 406**

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><p>"God DAMN, SON of a BITCH!"<p>

Neji couldn't stifle his chuckle when Tenten fell into another stream of cursing. "You know, you'd probably do better defending against my attacks rather than pausing every ten minutes to curse me out," he said.

"Shove it!" snapped his sparring partner. She gave her darkening bruises a sullen glare. "This is ridiculous. Why call a technique Gentle Fist when you cause this much damage with just a poke?"

"It's the irony of the thing," he explained patiently. "Not a lot of pressure need be used. It's mostly a chakra strike to your vital organs and chakra points."

"But it HURTS!" she whined uncharacteristically.

Neji grinned at her. "That's sort of the point, Tenten. Wouldn't be a good taijutsu if it didn't generate some kind of pain."

That grimace she was sporting looked twisted and so out of place on her face, like she'd bitten into a sour apple expecting something different. "But it's called Gentle Fist, Neji. That's a retarded name. It's like jumbo shrimp or blacklight - what is that term called? When the two words shouldn't even belong in the same sentence?"

"Oxymoron?"

"Yes! That. It's an oxymoron." Tenten crossed her arms defiantly. "I'm sure this technique you Hyuugas use is the product of a sadist."

Neji's eyebrow rose with interest at her declaration. "Oh really? What makes you think that?"

"You poke your enemy to death! It's so innocuous, but then it hurts! A lot! And there's a lot of damage that you're not aware of until later!" Tenten continued to rant about the painful evils of Gentle Fist. Neji just sat back with an amused half-smile on his face and watched his best friend release what seemed to be many years' worth of bitching. Sooner or later she'd run out of steam. And in the span of another hour and a half, she did just that.

Neji gave her a smile as soon as she finished her rant. "So, you done now?"

She scowled at him again. "Why, you have a hot date?"

"Yeah, with you." At her dumbfounded expression Neji thumbed over his shoulder at their training area. "Now, can we get back to training? I think we've wasted enough time discussing the nuances of Hyuuga jutsu."

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><p><strong>Just a convo between the best friends. I like it, how about you?<strong>

**Review please!**


	35. Eyes

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #34: Eyes - It's amazing the amount of joy - and pain - one could see if one looked hard enough.**

**Words: 661**

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><p>You can tell a lot about someone from what you can see in their eyes.<p>

Sometimes it's easy to understand. Sometimes it's a bear to even guess.

It all depends on how hard you look, and for how long.

These things take practice.

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><p>His hide.<p>

He doesn't like to share. A born shinobi, he has no inclination to let others into his mind.

It's like looking into a frosted window into a raging white blizzard. Cold and harsh, strong and unshakable. It can't break. He won't let it. He can't.

But she'd chance that storm to learn more.

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><p>Hers show.<p>

She's not much of a hider. Honesty is her policy, and a smile is her best feature.

It's like falling into a waterfall of chocolate. Warm and smooth, rich and seductive. She can't be restrained. She won't be. She hates it.

He's dying to find out how, and why.

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><p>Brown and white.<p>

Warm and cold.

Dark and pale.

Earth and Moon.

Hers and his. Different in appearance, but similar in the way they hold secrets to those who cannot read them.

Unlike many others, each wishes to break through the shields that the other holds. Each wants to know what others can't.

So they start learning.

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><p>She learns to peer into them.<p>

It takes time and practice. He's not exactly an open book. He hides his feelings from the world, behind locked doors and closed shutters.

But sometimes she can see a flicker. Sometimes, an emotion attempts to show itself. She lives for those moments.

Soon the flickers become trickles, and the trickles become a steady stream. Once she looks past the frost and the white, the swirls make sense.

She can tell when he's happy, and even when his face is a mask of emotionlessness, there's a twinkle in his eyes. It's clear when he watches the antics of their friends, seeing what joys life can bring him.

It's more noticeable as she spends more time with him. She can only dare to hope it's because of her.

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><p>He learns to read them.<p>

It takes some doing. She doesn't hide like others he knew. Her feelings are present in her eyes at all times, bright and cheerful like a candle flame.

But then he sees that sometimes, she does hide. Emotions can hide emotions. He strives to differenciate between the truths.

Soon the emotions settle, and patterns emerge. Once he's past the warmth and the turmoil, the patterns make sense.

He can see when she's in pain, and even when she flashes the brightest smile ever, there are tears glistening in her eyes. It's apparent when she looks at his family, something she once had but has no more.

It starts to disappear as he spends more time with her. He's too proud to imagine that it's due to him.

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><p>They're quite a pair.<p>

Everyone else just rolls their eyes and let them do what they do. It's a couple thing, some say. It's a training exercise, Gai and Lee insist. It's just what they do, say others.

Who knows what it really is to them. Each is a mystery, an enigma.

However, both are incredibly stubborn. Neither wants to admit that they don't know when their best friend is hiding something. Their eyes hide much in their own ways.

So they keep at it. It gets easier over time, but they don't let their success go to their heads.

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><p><strong>Just a rambling drabble. I like it.<strong>

**Review please!**


	36. Gossip

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #35: Gossip - ****It hurt, the words that his jealous fangirls flung at her. The worst ones were the true ones; talentless, plain, and worthless.**

**Words: 1,465**

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><p>Very few things could hurt the resident tomboy of Konoha High. She was a skilled martial artist, especially with a weapon in her hand, so not many people would risk crossing her unarmed or otherwise. Words didn't always make that short list, but sometimes they did. The words spat at her, about her, in the hallways of her school as she passed.<p>

_Worthless_. _Ugly_. _Boring_. _Useless_.

Tenten had known that the words would be coming. Once the word spread that she was dating the heartthrob of the third-year's class, all her female classmates and many of the underclassmen jealously started to sabotage her. Hate mail appeared in her locker. Her things began to go missing. Her schoolbooks were vandalized. And the hateful stares continued all day long.

She found little relief with her few girlfriends. Sakura and Ino were dears, and Hinata was a pure gem, but none of them truly knew the extent of the bullying. How could they? Sakura was a genius among the second years, Ino was the class beauty, and Hinata was the poster girl for the ideal Japanese woman. They were idolized by the boys and worshipped by the girls.

Not Tenten. All because she fell in love with Hyuuga Neji.

Her only solace was in her relative's dojo. There she could train with her Chinese weaponry until her lungs burned, her muscles trembled, and her brain was too hazy with exhaustion to care about what was happening at school.

One day it all culminated when someone set fire to the contents of her locker. Tenten stood in front of the blackened remains of her locker, fists clenched at her sides as she fought to keep the tears at bay. She had no indoor shoes, no gym uniform, no books, and no money to take the bus home. _It's not even first period and already my day's shot to hell_.

"Ten."

"Neji," she said numbly, seeing his shadow fall over her shoulder.

His hand reached to curl around hers. "Come with me." He said to someone she didn't see, "Tell sensei that we won't be in today. Cover somehow, okay?"

Tenten was too out of it to really register where they were going. It wasn't until a motorcycle helmet was being pressed into her hands that she regained any consciousness. "I thought you weren't allowed to ride your bike to school," she said.

"I worked for it, I paid for it. It's mine, not the family's. Where I ride it is my own business." He put on his own helmet, swung his leg over the seat, and started the engine. "You coming?" he asked over the noise, patting the seat behind him.

"You never cut class," Tenten replied, somewhat shocked.

He flashed that crooked smile she loved, the one that made her heart melt. "Only when it's necessary. Now are you going to come with me?"

Before she could comprehend it, she was holding on for dear life as Neji rocketed down the road. She always loved riding on his motorcycle - something about the recklessness of it, and nobody did reckless quite like Neji. Surprising for some, since he wore the persona of perfect A+ student so well. Few knew about his daredevil streak, the rebel beneath the honor student.

After about thirty minutes, Neji pulled into a park that was closer to her house than his. Tenten loved it because of the enormous lake that dominated the center of the park. Locking the bike down, he took her hand and led her down to the water's edge. There was a small fleet of rowboats tied there, and Neji borrowed one to row them to the center of the lake.

"What are we doing here?" Tenten finally asked when he stopped rowing.

Neji moved carefully to sit beside her. "You're going to tell me exactly what's bothering you," he replied. "Nobody's here to give dirty looks or to judge you. It's just you, and me, and the lake and the sky." Moon-pale eyes gazed into her dark brown ones. "C'mon, out with it."

Clenching her fists in her lap, Tenten stubbornly said nothing. He heaved a deep sigh and rested his chin on his hand, elbow propped on his knee. "Fine, don't tell me," he said nonchalantly, gazing over the water to where a flock of ducks were swimming. "But we're not leaving until I know exactly what's been bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me."

"Bullshit."

She scowled at the back of his head. "Being a pretentious prick to your girlfriend is not sexy, Neji."

"Lying to your boyfriend isn't that attractive either, I'm sure," he drawled back.

Maybe it was his laidback attitude, or maybe it was the use of the word _attractive_, but whatever it was, that sentence was the one that broke Tenten's calm. "Well sorry that I'm not an attractive person!" she shouted angrily. "It's not my fault that I'm a boorish, rough-housing tomboy who likes getting dirty more than getting dressed-up!"

"Ah~ha," Neji said in his annoyingly superior tone of voice, looking back at her with a knowing glint in his eye. "There it is."

_Dammit_, she thought. She'd learned early that just because he didn't show his feelings to others, it didn't mean that he couldn't see them in others. Underestimating Neji's emotional perception was never a smart move, and she'd done it without a second glance. "Don't be smug. It's not becoming."

"Don't depreciate yourself, it's beneath you," was his retort. "Ten, you can't let what they say affect you this much."

She made a face at him. "They're doing more than just saying stuff."

"I've noticed. So have the guys. Lee told me you've been - "

"Lee should've left well enough alone." The brunette scowled at the thought of their classmate ratting her out despite his promise not to.

"He did it cause he cares. The girls are worried too."

"It isn't as bad as they're making it out to be."

One eyebrow rose in disbelief. "Not that bad? Vandalism, theft, bullying - "

She shrugged carelessly. "Teenage pranks. So what?"

"Ten, _they set your stuff on fire_. In your _locker_. That's willful and malicious."

"So? What am I supposed to do?"

"Tell me," he said immediately.

Tenten shook her head. "No. I'm not a whiner."

"No, you're my girlfriend. I wanna protect you Tenten, but I can't do that if I don't know when you're fighting." Taking her hand in both of his, Neji started kneading the back of her hand with his fingertips. "I don't want either of us to suffer alone. We've done enough of that."

She bit her lip. It wasn't fair when he used their past losses, him of his father and her for her parents. "I'm not a weakling," she said. "I can fight my own battles."

"But you don't have to. Not anymore." Neji leaned forward until their foreheads bumped together, leaving her with nowhere to look but into his eyes. "With me in your corner, nobody will touch you."

"They don't have to," Tenten said, unable to stop herself. "You don't hear what they say, Neji. They're very careful to make sure you never hear what they call me."

His crooked smile returned. "Well then," he said in a matter-of-fact tone of voice, "you'll just need to not hear them either."

"And how do you expect me to do that, genius?"

Leaning close enough that she could feel his breath fan around her ear, Neji whispered, "You're beautiful, special, and mine, Fei-Lung Tenten. And, you know, I love you." He pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Just remember that, and those girls can't touch you."

Tenten smiled at him. "That's easily the most cheesy thing you've ever said to me."

"Yeah, that's true," Neji admitted. "But that doesn't mean I didn't mean it."

"Awww, you're sweet."

"Don't spread that around. The guys won't take me seriously if they know I did this."

She gave him a look. "Why would I reveal that you're secretly romantic? I'd have to beat off the girls with a dao staff."

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><p><strong>Yay, finally done this one! I like how it turned out, don't you?<strong>

**Review please!**


	37. Vicious

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._ If I did, we wouldn't be so damn confused.**

**Prompt #36: Vicious - They'd done many things to him, but nothing those old farts have done came close to what they said today.**

**Words: 1,006**

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><p>He walked through the day in a haze of shock, rage, and numbness. Nobody could get him to tell what had happened, and frankly, nobody wanted to try. The last time he walked around in a state like this, a couple guys went to the hospital. So he was left alone.<p>

The Konoha Eleven worried about him, in their own ways. But nobody outright said anything. They wished they could, but they knew how damn private and cold Neji could be when he wanted to keep a secret. So nobody tried to pry it from him.

Lee found him later that night, mulling on the outskirts of Konoha near their favorite training ground. The Green Beast of Konoha watched him for a few minutes until he deemed it safe to approach, when he said, "Neji? You any better?"

"Oh great. Of all the people who could've found me, they sent the group's youth-obsessed loudmouth idiot?"

That's when Lee knew it was bad. Neji was never cruel. Sarcastic, yes. Deadpan humor, oh yeah. Blunt honesty tinged with two of the above, hells yeah. But not outright cruel. "Neji, calm down. It's me."

"I can't calm down, don't you get it? That's why I'm alone here, to try and calm down. I've been trying to all day, but nothing works, nothing's working, and I don't get why, and it's making me even angrier!"

Neji was rambling, a dangerous sign that he was losing what little composure he had left. Lee had never seen him this worked up before in his life. Flapping his hands uselessly, Lee whimpered, "Aw, why does this have to happen when Tenten's gone?"

Bad choice of words. Neji's ramblings cut short as he lunged for Lee's collar. "What? Gone where?" he yelled in his teammate's face. "Where is she? Is she all right?"

"Neji, LET THE HELL GO OF ME!" Lee screamed, more freaked out than angry. Surprisingly enough, Neji released him. "Tenten's gone with Gai-sensei on a courier mission, an overnight trip. She's fine."

The prodigy heaved a sigh and collapsed on a nearby rock. "Thank gods."

"Mind telling me what's got you all bug-f*cked up?"

Neji scrubbed his face with his palms, clearly agitated. "I - I had an audience with the Hyuuga Elders last evening."

"Yeah, you left the party early to get there," Lee said, recalling the moment clearly. They'd been celebrating Kurenai-sensei's baby's first birthday, and Neji had left just after the candles had been blown out. "I'm guessing it didn't go well."

He shook his head negatively. "They told me - ever since Uncle was injured in the war, they've been pushing for an heir to the Hyuuga clan. Lady Hinata's not ready to succeed yet, and Lady Hanabi isn't of age. That leaves me, and they decided to - decided on - " His throat closed up suddenly, leaving him gaping like a fish.

While Lee was certifiably dense at times, he could add two and two together when properly calmed. He finished the sentence that Neji was unable to voice. "They're forcing you to marry someone?" Lightbulb flicked on. "Wait, wasn't today the day you were gonna - "

"Yeah," Neji said, cutting him off. "I was. God, I was ten minutes away from pulling her aside and - but that's not the point," he said dismissively. "They said I couldn't tell anyone, especially Tenten. So you have to promise me that you won't breathe a word of this to her."

Now Lee understood his isolation. The prodigy had figured that if he kept away from people, he wouldn't have to divulge this secret to anybody and therefore limit the chance that their female teammate would find out. This also explained his earlier cruel remark; Lee wasn't exactly a safe for sensitive information.

His next words were carefully chosen and spoken with care. "So you're never going to tell her. You're just going to suffer quietly."

"I don't have a choice, Lee." Neji sounded like he was out of options, which was very unlike him. "They've covered their butts this time. I've got to do this or else they'll - they'll stop her. They'll stop Tenten's dream." His voice was hoarse with raw emotion. "They'll keep her at chunin, keep her from missions, and she'll never achieve what she's wanted to be her whole life."

_Those bastards_. Lee knew, as did most of the Konoha Eleven, that the only thing Neji cared about was Tenten. She was the only thing he'd risk everything for. Conversely, she was the only person he'd drop everything to save. The Elders had given him a choice - submit and let her continue on her ninja path, or resist and stonewall her for life.

There was no choice. It was a chokehold. And either way, Neji and Tenten would suffer, apart.

"So you've gotta promise me." Neji had that look in his eye comparable to a doomed man asking for a final request. "Never, ever, _ever _tell her what I've just told you. She'll learn when everyone else finds out, but not the real reason. She can never know why."

Lee didn't want to. It wasn't fair, wasn't youthful, wasn't right. But rarely was the world as idyllic as he and Gai-sensei made it out to be. Biting his lip, the taijutsu specialist heaved a sigh and nodded. "Very well. I promise."

"Swear on Gai-sensei," Neji demanded.

"I swear," Lee promised. "She'll never learn it from me." _That doesn't mean she won't learn it from someone else_, he thought to himself. _News like that, it'll come out eventually. And if I know anything about Hinata, she won't stand idly by and let this happen_.

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><p><strong>It's so painful to whump on Neji, but then again, it's too easy.<strong>

**Review please!**


	38. Bride

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #37: Bride - "Tenten, I - " But he couldn't finish his sentence, and she knew why.**

**Words: 1,160**

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><p>I have no idea what the <em>hell <em>I'm doing here.

It's three in the goddamn morning, and I'm staring at the scarred wooden door that stands between me and the single most important person in my entire life. The one person I'd rather die than hurt in any way, shape or form. The one person I've ever broken my walls down for. The only person I've ever truly trusted.

The one who, right now, I have to push away.

She'd come back from her courier mission day before last, just in time to hear about my engagement. Like the rest of the Konoha Eleven, she took it with shock and demanded to know why I didn't tell her directly. I was able to divert her questions enough to make a break for freedom, but I've been dodging her all day and it was starting to get very, very difficult. Worst yet, she kept shooting me hurt looks when we were together that made me feel like the worst sort of person.

The last thing I ever wanted to do was push her away. Not by choice. Never by choice.

But I have to. For both our sakes.

I refuse to jepordize her career for something as selfish as my feelings for her.

I lift my fist, poised to knock on the door and seal my fate. Ignoring my head and my heart both screaming to run, to stop, to not break the only good thing I have left, I rap my knuckles three times on the door. "Who is it?" she calls out.

"Neji," I manage to choke out, sounding calmer than I feel. "It's Neji."

The door's practically torn off its hinges five seconds later. Wearing rumpled pajamas, her hair loose and disheveled, her eyes puzzled, Tenten stares at me with a dumbstruck expression on her face. _God she's so beautiful, _shoots through my mind. _Why are you doing this to her?_

"What're you doing here?" she asks.

"I - came to see you," I say. "C-Can I come in?" Crap, and I thought I was acting calm.

"S-Sure."

She opens the door wider, letting me enter. I take five steps inside and pause when I see the arsenal of weaponry that litter every square foot of floor and tabletop. "Um, is this a bad time?" I ask.

"No, I was just...relaxing," Tenten says, not meeting my eyes as she steps around me to start cleaning off a spot on the couch. "Couldn't sleep, you know?"

I'm now concerned about her. She doesn't stay up so late unless something bothered her, or she was sick. She doesn't look ill, not to my eyes. So that means she's bothered by something. "Are you all right?"

She looks at me, and I'm astonished to see a mask smiling up at me. "I'm fine," she said smoothly.

I can't believe it. She's lying. Right to my face, she's lying. I can't figure out what's possessed her to do so. So I call her out on it.

"Liar."

Her eyes grow cold and hard. "Says the man who tells no one about his engagement." It's a blow designed to hurt, and it works. I feel like she's driving the kunai in her hand into my heart. "You can't call me a liar when you've lied by omission, Neji."

I realize that it's not the right time to do this. We're both too raw about it to talk in a civilized fashion. Shoving my hands in my pockets, I say, "I shouldn't have come tonight. Sorry for the intrusion," and head for the door.

She tackles me from behind. Somehow we avoid being injured by her weapons and go sprawling across the floor through her open bedroom door. Through years of reflex I twist as I fall, catching her in my arms so my back is the one that slides across the floor. My head hits the end of her bed as her forehead slams into my chin. We swear and curse for a full minute as we try to untangle ourselves from each other.

Somehow we manage to turn our faces too close, making our eyes meet and our noses brush. I try to recoil - I don't like people in my personal space, period - but with the bed at my back, I'm hemmed in. She sees the panic in my eyes and moves slightly closer, breathing my air and making my heart go crazy.

Then her eyes drop to the floor. "Neji, what's that?"

"Wha?" I look down and see a familiar shining ring. _Oh shit. Shitshitshitshit._ "That's, um..." I meet her eyes again, trying to explain why I had a ring in my pocket. "Tenten, I - that's for - "

Her hand reaches over to pick it up. Holding it between us with her thumb and forefinger, she examines the little diamond set in sterling silver. My mouth goes dry. She's wearing that mask again. This can't end well.

"Pretty," she remarks flatly. "Must be serious about her." Smiling gently, she takes my hand and puts the ring in it, curling my fingers around it. "Whoever she is," she says, "she's a lucky girl. I wish you the best, Neji."

I can't speak. She didn't get it. _She didn't see it_. "Ten - "

But before I can explain, she's pulling me to my feet and pushing me towards the door. "I'm tired," she says, and I know this means _You should go now. _"Night, Neji."

"Goodnight," I say numbly, letting myself be ushered from the apartment. The door closes with a snap of finality behind me.

_So, _says the bitterly sarcastic voice of my conscience, _that went well. You didn't even have to trip over your lies. She pushed you out all on her own. Congrats, you managed to get your best friend to want nothing more to do with you_.

I'm too hurt to even care anymore. The last time I hurt this bad was when my father died. So, drawing on experience, I build up the walls of ice around my heart again. My emotions are shut behind frosted panes, and my faces loses what little expression it had gained. Drawing a breath, I head back to the Hyuuga compound.

_This is what's best, _I tell myself with every step. _This is how it has to be_.

Maybe if I keep telling myself that, I'll come to believe it.

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><p><strong>Tagalong to #36: Vicious. More whumping on Neji.<strong>

**Review please!**


	39. Uncertain

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #38: Uncertain - She certainly wasn't expecting a stammering Hyuuga to be standing outside her door at three in the morning.**

**Words: 805**

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><p>I have no clue why the <em>hell <em>I'm still awake at three in the goddamn morning.

Neji's just left, and I'm furiously polishing my collection of blades in order to keep the tears from dropping.

Bastard, bastard, bastard!

I knew I'd been an absolute brat when he came over. When he tried to leave, I tackled him on instinct. Something told me that if I let him walk out that door, leaving the hurt between us to fester, I'd never be able to apologize. Then I saw the bauble that dropped from his pocket, and my anger flared to life anew.

He had the _nerve _to bring her ring here? Honestly! I thought the Hyuuga trained their boys better. What moron walks to his best friend's place toting the ring he's going to give to his fiancée in his pocket?

But the style had surprised me. It was simple, functional, and beautiful. A small diamond set right in the silver band, no protrusions to catch onto anything, and flanked by two sapphires and two rubies. A very elegantly simple ring. Something that...that I'd like to wear on my ring finger.

Anger makes my wrist snap out, throwing the kunai in my hand against the already-pitted wall. He's such an insensitive bastard. I mean, he's always been that, but I used to be able to look past that!

A light knock echoes on my front door. It's not Neji, but it's familiar still. I leave the kunai in the wall and go to open my door. Traces of anger make me snap, "What?"

"T-T-Tenten? Am I t-t-too late?"

I'm surprised, to say the least. "Hinata? What're you doing here?"

"Was Neji already h-here?" she asks instead, pushing past me with a fearful look on her face. "Where is he?"

So shocked at her uncharacteristic behavior, I can only answer her. "He left. Twenty minutes ago."

"D-Did he give it to you?" she asks, whirling around and invading my personal space faster than Pain did Konoha all those years ago.

I'm now completely flummoxed. "Give me what?"

She grabs my left hand, looks at it, then drops it with an angry hiss. "Dammit!"

"Hinata!" I say in shock. She never swears.

"Stupid Neji!" she shouts. "That idiot! Why did he bring it if he wasn't going to give it to you?"

"Bring what?" I ask, unable to follow her train of thought.

That's when all sign of the refined, mild-mannered, if half-spineless Hyuuga heir disappeared forever. She whirls on me with rage's darkest fire in her moon-pale eyes. "THE RING, GODDAMMIT!" she screams. "HE WAS SUPPOSED TO BRING YOU THE RING AND PROPOSE! I HAD THIS ALL PLANNED, AND HE HAD TO LOSE HIS NERVE AT THE LAST MOMENT, THAT SELF-SACRIFICING ASS!"

I'm now sure that the universe is throwing a practical joke at my expense. First Neji shows up with a ring and no explaination, then Hinata has a personality meltdown, now she's saying he was going to propose to me? "Hinata, calm down and start over. What are you talking about?"

So she sucks another breath in, calms down a lot more, and tells me everything. The elders pushing for his engagement. Their threats to keep Tenten at chunin and ruin her dream. Neji's inability to do anything about it either way. His choice in the end.

I can't believe I'd been such a bitch to him. Sure, I'd known it earlier when I'd all but thrown him out, but now it hit home. He - he'd wanted to talk to me.

And I wouldn't listen.

Now I've blown our last chance to be together.

_Not quite yet, _said my rebellious core. _You can still stick it to those old bastards if you go now. You know how_.

And I do. There's a mission up for grabs, strictly volunteer, A-rank, a solo deep into a rogue clan's territory. If I pack quick and leave in an hour, I could catch Lady Tsunade and persuade her to let me take the mission.

I pull this off, and those old Elder farts will have no leg to stand on. I'll _make _them see me as worthy enough to be with Neji. Nothing says "I'm a fantastic addition to the Hyuuga family" quite like pulling off a dangerous mission single-handedly with flair and style.

Just wait for me, Neji. I'm not about to give up on us without a fight.

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><p><strong>No more whumpage or angst! BAMF Hinata returns as well!<strong>

**Tagalong to #36 "Vicious" and #37 "Bride". Making a mini-arc of them that'll include #39 "Kidnapped" and #40 "Dungeon".**

**Stay tuned, and please review to show the love! Break 120, let's go!**


	40. Kidnapped

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #39: Kidnapped - His heart stopped cold when he heard she was gone.**

**Words: 651**

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><p>Hinata felt awful whenever she saw her cousin in the days following his late-night trip to Tenten's apartment. Neji was visibly depressed, his face drawn and more pale than ever, his eyes dulled with hopelessness. He was just going through the motions of the upcoming engagement party, Hinata could tell. His heart was nowhere near it.<p>

She did all she could. She researched all the dirt she could on Neji's arranged marriage partner, and armed herself with enough seedy information to make a mudracker proud. Pulling her rank and status for the first time, she got her family members to listen up and listen good. She begged and pleaded with her father for leeway. Then she pulled out her big guns - going straight to the Elders and giving them a much-overdue piece of her mind.

That's when she learned that Tenten had gone missing on her mission.

Everyone came running when they heard her scream of rage, Neji at their head. What they came to see was nothing short of incredible - their shy, spineless Lady Hinata in full Juuken stance and Byakugan activated, squaring off with the oldest, wisest, most honored Hyuuga Elders. It was like she was possessed.

When Neji moved to restrain her, she whirled around and let loose on him. "Why are you still here when Tenten's gone missing?" she screamed. "Why aren't you out looking for her? Don't you care?"

His shell-shocked expression gave her the answer. It wasn't because he didn't care. It was because he hadn't known. The Elders had kept him in the dark, not letting any news of Tenten's mission penetrate the compound until she was well gone.

But once he heard, the prodigy shattered his "cool genius" persona faster than a jump through a pane of glass. He faced them down with Hinata, Byakugan and chakra blazing, demanding to know _exactly _what Hinata had meant by that.

Little by little, the truth came out. Bad intel. Betrayed. Ambushed. Captured, definitely. Dead, most likely.

If people had been surprised by Hinata's explosion, they had absolutely no warning for Neji's meltdown. Some people had forgotten about his legendary temper, and they were reminded of it now. It could only be described as feral; more than ten Hyuugas were needed to restrain the prodigy from committing murder in the inner sanctum. Bloodlust burned in his eyes and his hands were flailing, using Juuken on anyone unlucky enough not to dodge in time.

His only saving grace was Hinata, who slapped him once across the face to calm him down. In the shocked silence that followed, she ordered him to the Hokage's office double-quick to, in her exact words, "go get your girl back."

Tsunade approved his rescue mission with lightning speed, and assigned Naruto and Lee to go with him. Neji started to protest - he worked best alone, and let's face it, subtlety was not his companions' strong points - but Lee pointed out the method behind the madness. If he and Naruto played the loud, obnoxious, and very powerful distractions, nobody would notice the silent Neji sneak into the base and steal back their flower of youth.

"Besides," Lee added in conclusion, "you can't go in there alone. You'd find Tenten, then lose your temper and kill everyone there, blowing all your chakra in the rescue, by the way, and then faint carrying Tenten back home. Then what will you do?"

Lee's logic was sound (a surprise to mostly everyone present) and Neji didn't waste time arguing. Once they were suited up and armed, Neji led them out of Konoha, into the forest and after Tenten.

_I'm coming, Ten, just hang on_, he prayed. _Just hang on_.

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><p><strong>Go get her, Neji!<strong>

**Review please!**


	41. Dungeon

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.**

**Prompt #40: Dungeon - She was about to give up when she heard the inhuman roar from outside her cell.**

**Words: 1,343**

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><p>Tenten raised glassy eyes when the door slot flipped open to allow a tray of food slide inside her cell. She could see a bowl of rice, a cup of water, a green apple, and a piece of dry bread. Simple prisoner's rations. She made to reach for them, but the shackles around her wrists stopped her from moving farther than a foot from the wall.<p>

_That's__ right_, she thought dully. _I royally screwed this one up_.

Though in her defense, her predicament hadn't been her fault. Her intel had been bad, and as such, her cover had been comprimised. The rogue shinobi had captured her and dragged her back to their hidden base, thrown her into a cell and promised torture in her immediate future unless she betrayed Konoha's secrets. Her response had been to spit in their faces. That was six days ago.

They'd tried whips. They'd tried beatings. They'd tried cold, and heat, dehydration, and now starvation. But nothing had worked. She'd held firm and not talked.

But she knew it couldn't last. She was weakening, slowly but surely. In another week, Tenten wasn't sure she could keep up a brave front. She was barely holding on as it was.

Sinking back against the wall, she tried to clear her mind of fear. Fear wouldn't help her think of a way out of this mess. If her reckoning was right, someone must've noticed that she failed to check in three days ago. That meant that, even now, someone had to be mobilizing a rescue mission. Right?

_If you were from a prestigious clan, probably,_ said her ice-cold rationale. _Why would they waste resources to bring back a clanless kunoichi? It's not like they can't try again with someone else..._

A sudden commotion outside made her straighten slightly. Shouts of "Intruders!" and the cries of jutsus echoed down the hallway. She didn't want to dare hope that this was a rescue attempt. Doing that would just break her heart.

Then she heard two shouts that heralded her rescuers' arrival.

"**Rasengan!**"

"**Konoha Senpuu!**"

_Naruto and Lee? _Tenten thought in shock. _They're my rescue party? _A weak smile touched her lips. _Well, better than nothing, I guess. They'll definitely take down everyone in their path_. She tried very hard not to be disappointed that another hadn't joined their party...

"You shouldn't look so damn disappointed. I _did_ come halfway across Iwa to save your ass."

Her head shot up in shock. "Neji?"

And there he was, standing in the doorway of her cell, looking at her with such relief that Tenten almost believed she was dreaming. Neji took five strides across the room and broke the chains with two well-placed Juuken hits. Then he dropped to his knees in front of her, pulling her into his arms in a tight hug that nearly drove breath from her body. "Thank god I found you, Ten," he breathed. "Thank god you're all right."

_He's terrified. He must've thought I was... _"Neji, I'm fine," she whispered, raising her arms to wrap around his shoulders. Her eyes slid shut as she tried to commit this act to memory. This probably wouldn't happen ever again, and if she ever brought it up, he'd probably say -

"Get your _f*cking _hands off my girl, you sack of shit!"

Her eyes flew open to see Neji standing in the doorway of the cell. _Wait, what? _Tenten looked at him (a much dirtier, pissed-off, and clearly frantic Neji) to the cleaner one currently embracing her. "Wha - what the?"

Clean Neji growled angrily and sent a glare at Dirty Neji. "You," he hissed, releasing Tenten to stand protectively in front of her, drawing a kunai. "You bastard, drop that illusion!"

"You drop yours!" snarled Dirty Neji, drawing his own. "Tenten, get away from him. He's not me!"

Tenten was now completely turned around. Ordinarily she'd be able to tell, but after the week she'd had, her ability to discern real from fake was comprimised. She knew one of them had to be lying, but which one? The one protecting her was everything she knew Neji to be, right down to the rarely-used nickname he only uttered when she scared the living crap out of him. The other one, however, wasn't that far off the mark either - Neji did have a habit of forgetting his decorum when a mission stressed him out to the limit, however rarely that happened.

She had to choose which one to trust. The question was, how? And what would happen if she chose wrong? That one was easy - they'd both die, her and Neji. She couldn't let that happen.

A half-baked plan came to her then, and she took a deep breath to calm herself. "Neji," she said softly, hiding her flinch when identical lilac Byakugan eyes looked at her. "Neji knows me better than anyone else in Konoha."

"Of course I do," the two said in unison, sporting a shared look of _Well, duh_.

Tenten winced; even their indignation was identical. "Then the real Neji will know...who I hold dearest in my heart."

Silence. She noticed that she was holding her breath and quickly let it go. This was it. It was her only chance of guessing who was who. If this backfired, she didn't know what else to do.

Clean Neji spoke first. "It's me, Ten," he murmured. "You've always cared about me."

Hiding her expression, Tenten looked at the other Neji. His chest was heaving, but his expression was one of a man faced with a painful choice. Swallowing hard, he breathed, "I - I don't know the answer. You never told me."

And with that, she had her answer. She held out her hand, and Clean Neji took it to pull her close. "You were right," she said softly to him. "Only one problem."

"What?" he asked.

The kunai flashed into her palm, thrown from the other Neji across the room. "I never told Neji that," Tenten said, driving the blade into the fake's back. "You picked through my mind with a mind-reading jutsu, and you just pieced together what you could find in hopes of tricking me. Nice try, asshole, but not good enough." Dropping the bleeding shinobi, she spat on him and pushed back her unbound hair.

Neji - the real Neji - didn't move from the doorway. His features had returned to their original mask of expressionless calm. "Tenten? You all right now?" he asked softly.

She smiled as well as she could given her state of injury, then walked over to his side. "Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, knowing he didn't want to make her feel weak or stupid by asking too many questions. "But really? You brought Naruto and Lee to save me?"

A sheepish grin touched his lips. "Apparently my state of mind wasn't stable enough for me to be trusted to come get you myself."

"Well, you seem quite sane to me right now," she said honestly.

"But I wasn't." There was a raw note in Neji's voice that she'd never heard before. When Tenten looked up into his eyes, she saw the pain and the panic that still stormed in their pearly depths. "God, you have no idea how angry and scared I was when I found out you were gone, Tenten." His hand gripped hers tightly. "Let's go home, okay?"

"Let's," Tenten agreed. "Lead the way."

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><p><strong>No drawn-out confessions of love because, let's face it, it's not their style.<strong>

**Review please! We're starting the countdown!**


	42. Seduction

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.**

**Prompt #41: Seduction - Somehow Tsunade figured saying "The first one's always the hardest" wasn't the right thing to say. The ice-cold glare of one Hyuuga Neji could have been her first clue.**

**Words: 774**

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><p>Seeing one of her own people in the hospital was something Tsunade never liked to see. Especially not one of her girls, not after a seduction mission. While the requests for such missions were growing increasingly rare, sometimes she had to make command decisions about who to send. Unfortunately, she had very few girls who were available, not to mention girls willing to undertake such a mission.<p>

Tenten looked up at her with tired eyes, her complexion bleached out by the white sheets covering her. "Was the information satisfactory?" she asked.

"Completely," Tsunade replied. "We managed to take down the entire organization with it. You did well."

The brunette nodded. "That's good."

"How do you feel?" Never let it be said that the Hokage was a heartless bitch.

Tenten smiled faintly. "I'll be all right, Lady Hokage."

If she were a lesser woman or a lesser shinobi, Tsunade might've felt a hint of guilt about asking this. But she wasn't and she wasn't, so she really didn't. "Are you badly injured?"

"Miss Shizune said I'll make a full recovery."

"That wasn't what I asked."

Now the brunette's eyes broke away from hers. Tsunade nodded. "I understand what you're going through. Talking about it isn't easy...but trust me, it helps in the long run."

"It's not that," Tenten replied. "It's just...I, I mean..."

The Hokage nodded again. "You're thinking about Neji."

"I don't know how to tell him."

"I know. It's not an easy thing to relate to anybody." Tsunade smiled at the kunoichi. "But I'm sure you'll rise above it, Tenten. You're strong." She glanced at the closed door. "Do you want me to let him in now?"

Tenten shook her head. "Were you ever...attacked...Lady Hokage?" she asked hesitantly in a very small voice, her eyes wide as a little girl's.

She didn't reply right away, but the look in her eyes was enough of an answer. When she did speak, her words sounded carefully chosen. "Every seduction mission carries that possibility. All kunoichi who undertake them understand the risk. I asked if you did before you left, if you recall."

"I do," Tenten replied. "I just...when it happened, I just...I hesitated. For the briefest moment, I - I _froze_." The way she whispered that last word showed just how embarrassed she was about it. "I stopped him before it went too far, and I never broke cover, but..."

Tsunade nodded in understanding. "Still haunts you, doesn't it? That hesitation." Tenten nodded. "And let me guess, you've been second-guessing yourself ever since then." Another nod, a little more shameful than the first. "Let me tell you something. Everyone feels that. It's natural to be startled in that situation."

"But I'm - "

"But nothing." Tsunade cut her off succinctly. "I'm not going to coddle you through this, Tenten. You are a kunoichi of Konoha, and you were thrust into a situation that has had even experienced seducers think twice about their actions. You did what you had to, and you made it out alive and in one piece. That's all that should matter right now. You made it home." She fixed hard brown eyes on the younger woman. "Now I'm going to take my leave. You've had a very anxious young man waiting outside for the last five hours. Nearly paced a rut in my hallway."

"Lady Hokage?" She paused, her hand halfway to the doorknob, and looked back. Tenten was sitting upright in her bed, a grateful smile on her face. "Thank you."

"For what?"

The smile got a little bigger. "For the verbal kicks to my ass. Better than Miss Shizune's coddling any day."

Tsunade grinned back. "No problem, kunoichi. Now howabout you calm your boyfriend down before he freaks out more of my hospital staff?" She opened the door and stepped back as Neji raced in like he had a mad Bijuu on his heels, ignoring his superior and heading straight for Tenten's bedside. Tenten grasped his hands in hers and leaned against his chest, sobbing in relief and joy at being safe at last in his arms.

The Fifth Hokage knew when she wasn't needed. Clearly Tenten's phsychological healing was about to get started, and Tsunade knew better than to interfere.

So she employed a time-honored shinobi trick - she disappeared.

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><p><strong>Here we go again! Another countdown to the end!<strong>

**Review please!**

**9...**


	43. Tears

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto _in any way, shape, or form.**

**Prompt #42: Tears - They didn't cry much, but when they did, it was only when they were alone...or together.**

**Words: 1,129**

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><p>"Random question. Can you cry on command?"<p>

That question, coming so far from left field, startled Neji enough to make him twitch. He fixed his teammate with a questioning look. "Excuse me?"

Tenten swallowed her sip of lemonade and spoke again. "Can you shed tears on a moment's notice?"

He couldn't help his sarcastic reply. "Exactly how long have you known me?"

"It's just a question. Don't have to be so crabby."

"Why are you asking me that question?"

She sighed. "This mission I'm going on needs me to cry on cue, and I don't cry."

Neji frowned. "It's not a common skill."

"I mean I don't cry. At all." She looked straight at him. "Haven't since I was a child."

This admission made Neji look at her in surprise. While not as prone to tears as Lee was, he'd been certain that she had shed some in the years he'd known her. "Really?"

She crossed her arms. "What? You never noticed?"

"Frankly, no." Realizing how insensitive that sounded, he tried to backtrack. "I mean, I've never seen you in a situation where you'd be required to cry."

"All right, I'll give you that." Tenten huffed an irritated sigh. "But I don't know what I'm going to do. Crying on command is a talent that takes time to perfect. I need to get it down by the beginning of next week."

"Think of something sad," Neji said logically.

She shook her head. "Doesn't work."

"Maybe you're not thinking of something sad enough."

"Can you cry on command?"

Now put on the spot, the Hyuuga prodigy looked away. "I've never needed to," he said.

"That's not an answer," Tenten stated. "All right, say you had to force yourself to cry. Bear with me," she asked when he shot her a look of confusion. "What memory would you use to break the dam, so to speak?"

The conversation was drifting into very sensitive ground, ground that Neji had avoided for nearly ten years. He swallowed and thought about saying that he had no such memory, but he had never lied about something this personal to Tenten. He wouldn't start now.

"There's...one..."

She leaned closer. "What is it?" she asked curiously.

Feeling a lump form in his throat, Neji swallowed hard. "It's from when...when I was four..."

Tenten's expression lost its curiosity, eyes widening slightly as they searched his face. "Not your curse seal?" she whispered.

"No. That isn't a sad memory." He still thought of the mark with hate and disgust, but it evoked no sadness from his heart. "This is from after I recieved my curse seal. When...when the Kumo shinobi came..."

Realization was instant, as was her guilt. "Neji, I'm sorry. You don't have to force yourself - "

"But I do," he insisted. "I've...I've never talked about it like this, to anyone. I think it's time I told someone."

A foreign prickling in his eyes made him blink, hard. When his eyes opened again, a fat tear rolled down his cheek. He was almost embarrassed about it - after all, hardened shinobi don't cry - but he remembered who he was with. The friend he trusted. The girl who kept all his weak moments as secrets.

Taking a deep breath, he leaned closer and told Tenten about a gray, lonely day eleven years ago.

The day he buried his father.

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><p>Tsunade looked at the gathered intel, then back to Tenten. "This is very impressive," she remarked. "Quite good. And you were able to accomplish your part of the mission with great success, says Kurenai-sensei."<p>

The brunette kunoichi had the grace to give a tiny, proud smile. "Thank you, milady."

"May I ask how? I mean, you didn't seem to possess the talent before you set out, and as the ability to cry on command is sometimes difficult to master..."

Still smiling, Tenten shook her head. "I hope you won't mind if I don't reply, Lady Tsunade."

"Oh?" Tsunade's eyebrow rose in surprise.

"It's...a private memory, milady."

The Hokage nodded. "Very well. That is yours to keep. However, whatever it was, it seemed to get the job done."

Once dismissed, Tenten walked through Konoha's streets, fighting to keep the tears at bay. Recalling the memory hurt almost as bad as the first couple times she'd done it, and it didn't seem as though she'd ever get over the pain. Her footsteps automatically pulled her home to her apartment, where her hands dug out her key and opened the door on their own.

"I'm home," she announced tiredly.

"Welcome home," came the unexpected reply. She looked up and saw Neji lounging on her couch, obviously reading a book he'd become engrossed in. Said book was put aside, however, when he got a good look at her. "Ten? Why are you crying?"

_Huh? _She reached up to touch her cheek. Her fingertips came away wet. "Damn," she whispered. "It's...it's nothing."

He rose from the couch and quickly moved to stand in front of her. "It's not nothing. You've never cried like this before." A flash of guilt lit his pale eyes. "Wait, is it because of - "

Tenten's smile was trembling. "I never cried this much before," she said. "Must've been because I didn't have a good enough reason to cry." Emotion made her hug Neji tightly, burying her face in his shirt front.

His arms came up to hold her. "I didn't tell you to make you sad all the time, Ten."

"But now I understand why you don't show much emotion," she mumbled. "It was a sad story."

Neji could feel his eyes burning as his own tears began to form. Holding Tenten tighter, he pressed a tender kiss to her forehead. "Please stop crying. Please? Smile for me, Tenten. Smile for me."

Swallowing hard, Tenten sniffed and tried to give him a wide smile. "We're really quite a pair, aren't we?" she joked.

"Yeah, we really are," Neji agreed. "But we're fine the way we are. Together."

Tenten nodded. "Together." _Because I'll never let you feel as alone as you felt all those years ago, Neji. Never again_.

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><p><strong>This was quite a tough tear-jerker to write. :') They do have their sad moments, these two...<strong>

**Review please!**

**8...**


	44. Viper

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.**

**Prompt #43: Viper - She could be a dangerous enemy when provoked. Especially when she played dirty.**

**Words: 433**

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><p>"Uncle?"<p>

"Yes, Neji?"

"Isn't this a little...archaic?"

Hiashi gave his nephew a surprised look. "This is the first time you've voiced a complaint."

"Well, I honestly thought it wasn't going to happen." Neji heaved a sigh and returned to watching.

"The Inuzuka boy did this when he asked for Hinata's hand."

"That's because Kiba's a borderline-psycho adrenaline junkie," Neji retorted. "He loved the challenge."

"This is a time-honored vetting process, Neji."

"Yeah, _for male applicants_." The younger Hyuuga stressed the last three words, not bothering to hide his annoyance. "So why's Tenten doing this?"

Hiashi shrugged. "She insisted on it. Don't tell me you disapprove of this method."

"It's just...surprising, that's all."

"She stated that this would silence any further complaints the Elders would have about her competency and eligibility, and I agree with her. Don't you?"

"Of course I do!"

"Don't you want Tenten as your wife?"

The tips of Neji's ears reddened. "Of course I do."

Hiashi gave him a tiny smile. "I think this is a fair demonstration of her capabilities, don't you?"

Now Neji sported his own grin. Together uncle and nephew watched the lone kunoichi single-handedly go hand-to-toe with several Hyuuga shinobi. There was a wild, reckless smile on Tenten's lips as she threw down with over twenty men at once, laughing as she went.

"She is a sly one, this Tenten," Hiashi remarked. "Crafty, like a snake."

"Training with me all those years, she's had to be," Neji said. "She's learned every dirty trick in the book."

The elder Hyuuga raised an eyebrow in realization. "This is payback, isn't it? For what the Elders did with the arranged marriage." Neji didn't reply, but the cat-in-the-creamery smile that slowly uncurled on his face was answer enough. "I see. This is very low and diabolical of you, Neji."

"Their fault for throwing down the gauntlet and not expecting retaliation," said the prodigy nonchalantly.

"Then you should sit back, relax, and enjoy the show."

"Oh, I am." To illustrate the point, Neji leaned back and folded his arms behind his head, the smug grin still plastered on his face. "How many men can boast that their fiancée bested a sizeable group of the Hyuuga in hand-to-blade combat?"

"You will have quite a story to tell your children."

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><p><strong>Ahh, this one made me giggle madly with glee!<strong>

**Review please!**

**7...**


	45. Kaiten

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #44: Kaiten - Some people saw just a jutsu, an accomplishment worthy of the prodigy. But she could see every bit of hard work, practice, and sheer determination with every rotation.**

**Words: 1,034**

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><p>It was late one hot afternoon, during a break in training, that Tenten heard a group of teenage chunin girls swooning nearby. "Did you see how hot Hyuuga Neji looked in the training yard?" one tittered. "Oh my, I almost gasped aloud!"<p>

"He's sooo dreamy," another one said. "Those pale eyes...it's like he can see right through you!"

"How can he still be single at eighteen?" asked a third girl. "He's strong, hot, and a jonin! Did you know he mastered the super-secret Hyuuga Main House techniques just by watching others do it? He figured them out all by himself!"

"What a genius!" the first girl agreed. "Everything just comes so easy for him, doesn't it?"

They kept talking about it, but Tenten couldn't listen any more. Stalking away from the girls, she found a shady tree and sat down as she took deep breaths and tried controlling her temper. _Those airhead bimbos have no idea what they're talking about,_ she thought angrily. _They have **no idea** what Neji has had to go through...no idea in Hell.._.

Seething under a tree wasn't helping her state of calm, and Neji's solo training usually took hours, so the kunoichi packed up her scrolls and headed towards Iou's weapons factory. It had been some time since she last went, and she hoped that the eccentric inventor would have some new toys for her to test.

Nothing translated to 'anger management' quite like 'testing potentially unstable weapons on mannequins that did nothing wrong but exist.'

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><p>For once, weapons testing didn't help to work off her displaced hostility.<p>

Jidanda went up, up, up, and she swung it around like a mad woman, but even the giant weapon's awesome destructive power wasn't enough to knock her out of her funk. Whole sections of the forest were flattened beneath her, but she could still hear those girls prattling on about Neji.

"Tenten! Get back down here!" yelled Iō from the ground. "NOW!" She obeyed reluctantly. The assistant Shōseki toddled over, and she handed Jidanda over mutely. Iō crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently. "When you said you wanted to practice with Jidanda, I only agreed because I thought you'd present a challenge for me! But you've only been causing needless destruction. There has been no challenge!"

"Didn't come here for a challenge," she mumbled. "Came to vent..."

"You only vent when something is wrong between you and that boy." Giving her a kind look, Iō reached up and patted her hand. "Why don't you tell this old man what the trouble is. Shōseki can take care of Jidanda."

Tenten sat down on a nearby rock and drew her knees up to rest her chin. In a small voice she told Iō about the conversation she overheard as well as her anger at the girls' words. When she finished, Iō had a smile on his face and a twinkle in his eyes. "Sounds like you've felt this way before," he remarked.

"They think just because he's a genius that he can do anything," Tenten said. "People always assume that he's managed to get this far because of his brains. It's not true. He's worked twice as hard as anyone I've ever known, and he's always pushed himself harder and longer than any other shinobi I've ever seen, including Lee. It's never been easy for him, even after he gave up on that emo-destiny crap, and it always gets me so mad that people assume his genius makes his accomplishments seem easy."

Iō never spoke a word, just watching her as she vented and ranted and raved. When she finished, he only said, "You've obviously been with him since the beginning."

"I've helped him train with his _**Kaiten** _since we were genin," she replied. "He's my best friend."

"And you're a good friend to worry about him."

Tenten scowled. "Nobody else gave a damn for the longest time."

Iō patted her hand again. "He's very lucky to have a friend like you in his life."

"Want an old man's advice?" When she nodded, Iō smiled. "It's always a challenge to get through life amidst the words people say about you. But the challenge is always made easier when you have a friend who knows the hardships for what they were - hardships overcome. Someone who knows the truth about and can see the hard work behind the accomplishments."

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><p>"<strong>Kaiten!<strong>"

_Right where I left you,_ she thought fondly, leaning against the tree as she watched Neji brush off his sleeves in the center of the crater. _Hard at work_.

As if he heard her approach (unlikely, since she made less noise than a floating leaf) he straightened slightly and looked up. "You going to join me anytime soon?" he called out. "This isn't even getting my blood pressure up."

"Nothing gets your blood pressure up anymore, Neji," was her dry retort.

"Where did you go?"

She shrugged. "To see Iō and practice with Jidanda."

"You know he's not gonna give you that behemoth anytime soon, right?" Neji stated. "Sometimes I think he just likes stringing you along."

Tenten grinned. "So what? I like being the only one who uses Jidanda."

"You're nuts."

"Ah, you know me so well."

"We're best friends. What do you expect?" The calm, almost offhand way he said that made Tenten's insides squirm happily. "Besides, you're one of the few people who really know me."

She smiled. "Yeah, being besties gives me that right."

"And, of course, you don't treat me like everyone else does. Like a genius on a pedestal or whatever." Neji flicked his cool gaze to hers, showing that he'd heard those annoying tittering girls as well. "You treat me like a real person."

"Because you are," Tenten said. "It doesn't matter that you've mastered hidden arts or whatever. You're human like everyone else, Neji."

He gave her a small smile. "Thanks for that."

She smiled back. "Always, Neji."

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><p><strong>Hmmm, this one rambled, but I liked how it ended, don't you?<strong>

**Review please!**

**6...**


	46. Ribbon

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.**

**Prompt #45: Ribbon - She couldn't be so cheaply bought off on this day.**

**Words: 946**

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><p>"I hate White Day."<p>

Hinata frowned, clearly puzzled. "W-Why?"

"Because I slaved over a hot stove for Valentine's Day - also a day I mostly despise - making great chocolate, and I'm only going to get a lame ass white trinket for my troubles, if that!"

"B-But you only made obligatory chocolates."

"Not the point!" Tenten steamed. "It's such a double standard, Hinata! Girls have to work hard, but guys get to skate for the return buy!"

Across the table, Sakura and Ino rolled their eyes. "Stop being so melodramatic, Tenten," Ino sighed. "The guys have it way worse than us."

"How so?"

Sakura had the answer to that. "Because they either overthink it and buy something last-minute, or they completely forget until the very last minute, and then they buy something expensive to make up for it."

"Speaking from experience, are we?"

The pinkette smiled. "Sasuke's a genius, but that doesn't make him infallible."

"Same with Shikamaru," Ino agreed. "He always has to suck up because he's too lazy to shop beforehand."

Tenten shot a glare at Hinata. "And lemme guess. Naruto's the same?"

The Hyuuga heiress had a pleased smile on her face. "H-He always manages t-to s-surprise me," she admitted.

"Either way, it's a gift from your man!" crowed Ino. "It's a romantic gesture that speaks volumes of his love for you!"

"But I don't have a man," Tenten reminded her friends. "I made obligatory chocolates for the guys, remember?"

"Which is why you get such mediocre return gifts," explained Sakura. "Obligation just translates to 'no thought required' Tenten. It means basic gift. It means a white ri - "

Out of nowhere, a kunai plunged into the table. "Don't say it," growled Tenten. "I could hang myself with all the damn things I get every White Day."

"You're nuts," Ino said in a breathy voice. "Take a chill pill. It's just a dumb holiday. Why are you getting so worked up?"

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><p>"Why are you getting so worked up?"<p>

"I don't know," said Neji quietly. "That's why."

Lee nodded vigorously. "Indeed! Tenten is our beloved flower! She deserves more than a plain white ribbon on this auspicious day!"

"So what're you getting her?" Shikamaru asked.

Neji tuned his friends' voices out as he looked around the store. This outing had been a near-constant tradition among the Konoha Twelve's males for years, the last-minute scramble for White Day presents owed to their four female teammates for Valentine's chocolates. Normally it wasn't a big deal, just grabbing white ribbons and a special gift for a particular girl. The boys with girlfriends had it a little tougher, since they actually had to consider the thoughtfulness of the gift as well.

But Tenten's chocolates were always obligation chocolates, so it was just a choice between the standard ribbon or a handkerchief. It had always been that; obligatory chocolates required no excessive thought. But this year, Neji had a random thought penetrate his mind.

_I want to get her something else_.

But what? Ah, the rub. He didn't want to take the unimaginative route and get her a new weapon because, let's face it, she had enough pointy things. But he didn't want to risk picking something unnecessarily girly that she'd never use or wear. So Neji scanned the shelves and prayed for inspiration. Twenty minutes later, he was still praying for it.

"Neji, for crying out loud, just grab a white ribbon!" Naruto yelled impatiently from the cashier's line, paying for his gift to Hinata.

"Stuff it, fox boy," Neji muttered under his breath. "It's tougher when you're trying to break out of the friendzone - "

And then he got the inspiration he was looking for.

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><p>Tenten sighed at the six white ribbons and the white flower hairclip she recieved from the boys. <em>A<em>_t least Lee had the decency to be different this year, _she thought, admiring the white lotus accessory. _It's actually very pretty. If only he hadn't gone off on his "flower of youth" speech.._.

"Hey."

"Neji," she greeted, seeing the prodigy approaching. He hadn't given her a present earlier, but she hadn't been that angry. Neji didn't like giving presents in front of other people. Tenten knew it was because he was a private person and he didn't want to hear the boys' jokes.

"Happy White Day," he said now, holding out a small box.

She took it with both hands, flipping the lid up. Once she saw what was inside, she gasped with surprise. Nestled in the velvet lining was a simple ring carved from a milky white stone, flawless and smooth.

Neji looked almost uneasy, his eyes looking everywhere but right at her. "I - I wanted to get you something different, you know, but not too girly because you'd never wear it, and then I saw this and it was perfect because it won't get caught on anything or - "

She pressed her fingertips against his lips, cutting him off. "Neji, it's beautiful." Taking it out, Tenten slipped the band onto her ring finger. "Thank you."

"I - I was hoping it'd double as a...as a..." Was the great, stoic Hyuuga Neji actually _blushing_? "As a - a promise ring."

Her breath caught in her chest. "P-Promise ring?" she repeated. "P-Promise for wh-what, Neji?"

Neji's pale face flushed darker than tomato red. When she figured it out herself, Tenten's cheeks burned with happy embarrassment.

_I love White Day_.

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><p><strong>*happy dance* This was so much fun to write! Sorry if Neji's a little OOC, I really couldn't see him proposing with that stone face of his.<strong>

**Review please!**

**5...**


	47. Blind

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.**

**Prompt #46: Blind - For having an all-seeing field of vision, he could sometimes miss what's right in front of his nose.**

**Words: 1,210**

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><p>Tenten had a dilemma. She had strong romantic feelings on Hyuuga Neji. And she was more-than-kinda-sure he liked her the same way. But Neji was, for all intents and purposes, an idiot. Emotionally, anyway. He wouldn't know a coffee date from a training session.<p>

So what was her brilliant solution? Employ basic techniques that would hopefully stoke the prodigy's nonexistant libido. Her plan of attack, however, was anything but. How do you seduce a genius too dense to recognize a pick-up line?

Simple. You ask the girls who've already done so.

Sakura, Ino, and Hinata (yes, Hinata too) all gave her a technique they'd used on their boys to secure their affections. Armed with those and every other girl tip she could recall, Tenten set out to, ironically, make Neji open his eyes and see her as more than his best friend.

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><p><strong>Ino's Idea: Dress in tight, provacative clothes, then lean down, put your hands on your knees and arch your back to show off the girls to their best advantage. <strong>

_Daring. No wonder, with Shikamaru as bored as he is._

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><p>Tenten swallowed nervously. The tank top and miniskirt she wore were very tight, almost a size too small, and bared more skin than she was used to comfortably showing. But that was the plan, wasn't it?<p>

Following Ino's advice, she waited until Neji was meditating before leaning over. This situated her chest almost right in front of his eyes. Taking a deep breath, she said in a hopefully sultry voice, "Hey, Neji?"

"What?" He opened one eye...and slowly opened the other. He blinked once, unfazed, before lifting his gaze to her face. "What's with the get-up?"

"I...needed to do laundry," she said. Injecting a note of cutesy in her tone, she pitched her voice slightly higher and tittered, "These were the only clothes I could wear. Aren't they cute?"

"You okay? You sound...weird."

Tenten nodded, frowning slightly. "Yeah."

"Okay. So, what's up?"

She sighed and straightened. "Never mind."

_Ino's Idea: failed. Fat lot of good it did me._

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><p><strong>Sakura's Idea: Wear a sexy bra under a short white shirt on your next mission, then trip while crossing a body of water. <strong>

_Also daring. Never knew Sakura had it in her._

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><p>Neji's eyebrow almost touched his hairline, it shot up so high. "That's an...interesting outfit for a recon mission. What, you need to do laundry again?"<p>

"Yeah," Tenten replied shortly, tugging her shirt's hem down to cover her bared stomach. _At least I'm wearing my capris and not a skirt. _"Let's just get going, okay?"

Part of their journey entailed jumping over a fairly wide stream. Tenten purposely misjudged her step and tripped, flailing straight into the water with a girlish "Kyaaa!" for effect.

"Tenten!" she heard Neji yell when she returned to the surface. Rubbing water from her eyes, she saw him standing over her with a concerned look in his eyes. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I think - " She glanced down at herself and blushed bright red. Although she'd been expecting it, the sight of her panda-pattered bra showing through the wet fabric was more embarrassing than she'd thought it'd be. "Dammit. And me without another shirt to wear..."

She looked up to see his reaction. Neji was rummaging through his pack, his face back to its unreadable expression. He extracted one of his shirts and held it out to her. "Here. Go change in the trees before you catch cold. I'll scout ahead."

_Well, at least he cares enough to worry about if I'll get sick._

_Aside from that, Sakura's Idea: epic fail._

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><p><strong>Hinata's Idea: Come up from behind and "trip" to hug him.<strong>

_Yeah, like this will be any easier._

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><p>This had a giant problem sign hanging over it in neon lights. Neji wasn't a big fan of physical contact outside of training or fighting. Tenten had to time this just right.<p>

So, after an especially strenuous training session, she waited until Neji's Byakugan was off and his back was turned. Once more, she pretended to trip, only giving a slight "Oh!" of surprise before her arms reached out to wrap around the only thing she could to stop her fall. Which, of course, was Neji's torso.

Fast as lightning he spun around and caught her in his arms. "Ten, what's the matter with you?" he asked, his voice infuriatingly calm and clinical. "You've been acting weird the last few days. Are you sick?" His hand reached up to feel her forehead. "You don't feel warm. Is it a headache or something?"

Frustration at his nonresponsive actions, Tenten pushed away from him as tears brimmed in her eyes. "Nothing!" she shouted. "Nothing's wrong with me, idiot Neji! Leave me alone!"

The shocked look on his face was, if possible, even worse than his stoic one. Now ashamed of her outburst, Tenten grabbed her bag and bolted as fast as she could before he saw the tears fall.

_Sorry Hinata, but your Idea was worse than an Epic Fail._

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><p><em>Ugh. I give up.<em>

Tenten hefted her bag higher on her shoulder and hurried her steps home. After blowing up at Neji, she'd gone back to the girls and told them of her abject failure. They'd been surprised at his apathy, to say the least, and quick to console Tenten when she'd started to cry. An impromptu girl's night ensued at Ino's house, breaking only at two AM due to the need for a decent amount of sleep before their missions in the morning.

_I'm just gonna have to resign myself to the facts_, Tenten thought tiredly. _Neji won't ever see me as a female worthy of love_. The realization hurt almost as badly as it had earlier that night. But unlike before, she was cried out.

Climbing up the stairs to her apartment, Tenten was suddenly aware of another presence in front of her door. She unsheathed a kunai quietly and carefully continued upstairs, her eyes and ears peeled for any hostile intent.

When she did recognize the chakra of her late-night visitor, she didn't put the kunai away. "What are you doing here, Neji?" she said acerbically.

He met her eyes with the intensity as a laser. "Can I come in?" he asked. "I - I think we need to have a long talk. About...things."

Her damaged pride alone almost made her shove past the Hyuuga and slam the door shut in his face. But Tenten was not a vindictive person, or a heartless one. She could see that Neji was genuinely trying to figure out what had happened that afternoon, and the fact that he'd been the cause was clear in his pearly eyes. It wasn't often that he was clueless, but when he was, the prodigy made it a personal mission to figure out what clue he had to get.

So, heaving a sigh and hoping this didn't break her heart further, Tenten said, "Come in, Neji. I'll make some tea."

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><p><strong>Will they make up? Well...stay tuned!<strong>

**Review too!**

**4...**


	48. Morning

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_.**

**Prompt #47: Morning - They knew when they woke up that they had to talk about what had happened.**

**Words: 2,030**

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><p>Neji woke up to sunlight on his face and a warm body in his arms. Blinking slowly, he carefully looked around to get his bearings as he fought to figure out where he was, who he was with, and what the hell happened.<p>

_Oh wait, _he thought. _That's right. I went out with the guys last night, and they'd settled in for the night with some alcohol. I told them how strange Tenten had been acting lately, and then Naruto said -_

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><p><strong><em>"You are the most enormous, thickheaded, STUPIDEST genius that's ever drawn breath!"<em>**

**_Neji scowled at the blond. "Big words for a punk, Naruto. Especially a drunk punk."_**

**_"I'm not drunk!" And surprisingly, he wasn't. Naruto could drink like a fish, a fact that continued to shock everyone who knew him. "And for your information, I could've called you an ignoramus, but that would just add to your pretentiousness!"_**

**_"Shaddup!" Kiba yelled, throwing his cup at Naruto, who ducked on reflex. Considering his eyes were cloudy with booze, it was a miracle he could aim straight at all. "Yer hurtin' mah head. Stop shou'ing!"_**

**_Neji sipped from his own cup. "I just...I don't know why she was so upset. She'd been acting odd, so I figured she was coming down with something. How else do you explain her behavior?"_**

**_Shikamaru, flushed but otherwise unimpaired, sipped his sake. "So troublesome," he grumbled. "She was trying to seduce you, idiot."_**

**_The prodigy's eyes widened. "What?"_**

**_"She was - "_**

**_"No, I heard you. But..." Neji shook his head and waved his hands in a gesture of disbelief. "But Tenten? What makes you think - "_**

**_Shikamaru interrupted him. "Bending over in a too-tight shirt so her boobs are right in your face? Ino did that to me. Nearly gave me a nosebleed."_**

**_"Thought he was gonna pass out, his face was so red," Choji snickered._**

**_Swallowing his sake, Neji tried to think past this disturbing information. "But what about - "_**

**_Now Sasuke, swaying slightly next to Naruto, spoke up. "Sakura pulled the wet shirt trick with me. Almost gave me a heart attack." His tipsy expression flushed bright red as he recalled the memory. "Point is, they did it to elicit a reaction. Like, "Oh, hi, I'm suddenly sexy! Notice me!" You know?"_**

**_"But this afternoon - "_**

**_"She must've tried the 'I'm tripping to suddenly hug you and smoosh my boobs against your back' trick, right?" At Neji's astonished look Naruto smirked. "Hinata's more devious than she lets on, ya know. She completely blindsided me."_**

**_"An' you didn' even react to any of that," slurred Kiba. His hand groped for his cup, which Naruto picked up and refilled. Slamming the drink back, the Inuzuka male continued. "Geez Hyuuga, wha'sa matta' with you?"_**

**_"I was confused! How the hell was I supposed to act?"_**

**_"Laaaame," Naruto tut-tutted. "You can't be a hot-blooded male if you didn't react to those things. Unless..." A startled look entered his blue eyes as he leaned away from Neji. "Wait, are you...ARE YOU GAY?"_**

**_"No!" snapped Neji angrily. "I am not!"_**

**_"Then what the hell is wrong with you?!" yelled Naruto, ignoring the winces of their drunk companions. "You effed up! Go fix it!"_**

**_"How?"_**

**_"You're the genius! Figure it out yourself!"_**

**_"Give me a hint."_**

**_Naruto rolled his eyes. "Just talk to her. Chances are you'll figure it out on the way."_**

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><p><em>Apparently I figured it out, <em>Neji thought. His bleary mind finally recognized where he was - the floor of Tenten's living room. Shaking his head to clear the remnants of a hangover, he felt Tenten shift in his arms slightly. He smiled softly when she nuzzled against his chest.

His...bare chest?

_Wait a second. _His eyes went wide when he realized something. _How the hell did we end up on the floor, under a blanket and...oh shit, did we - _

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><p><strong><em>"Chamomile all right? I'm out of green tea."<em>**

**_"That's fine." Neji stood awkwardly in Tenten's living room, listening to his teammate put tea on in the kitchen. His friends' words still spun around in his mind, making him feel more than somewhat uncomfortable. He sat down in an attempt to clear his head. _**___Maybe coming here right after drinking wasn't a good idea...___

**_It wasn't like he didn't care for Tenten. On the contrary, he cared a great deal about her. But the idea that she wanted to pursue a romantic relationship with him...it was just mind-blowing. S_****_he'd never shown any inkling of her feelings before._**

_Can you blame her? **scolded a little voice in his mind. **You're her best friend, plus you're fixated on training and little else. She probably thought you'd blow her off._

**_And the worst part was that Neji wasn't sure he could refute that statement._**

**_She walked in with a pot and two cups balanced on a tray. Setting it down on the coffee table, Tenten gestured to the pot. "Have a cup."_**

**_"Thanks." Only two feet of space was between them, but Neji felt as if it was miles wide. He couldn't even fidget nervously; his impassive nature wouldn't allow it._**

**_"You wanted to talk?" As always, Tenten got to the heart of the matter with the finesse of a sledgehammer. "So talk."_**

**_He decided to extend her the same courtesy. "I was hanging out with the guys tonight, and they said you've been trying to seduce me."_**

**_Her cheeks only flushed a little bit. "How did they come to that conclusion?"_**

**_"I told them about the last few days - "_**

**_"YOU TOLD THEM?" she screeched._**

**_"The hell was I supposed to do? Guess?" Neji retorted. "I had no idea what the hell you were doing, Ten. When I told the guys, they said you were doing the same things their girlfriends did."_**

**_"So you all had a good laugh, is that it?" Her voice was like ice. "Joked about the failed wiles of Tenten, huh?"_**

**_"No!" He shook his head vehemently, meeting her gaze to show the truth of his words. "No, Tenten. I didn't have any idea what you were doing when you did those things, so I - I froze up. I didn't know how to react."_**

**_Tenten scowled. "You're not helping your cause, Neji."_**

**_"It's not like that was a normal occurance for me!" he explained. "You weren't acting like you, Ten!"_**

**_"You never notice me when I act like me!" she yelled back, her eyes starting to water again._**

**_The absolute idiocy of her words made the Hyuuga falter, then lose his cool completely. "You stupid - I ALWAYS NOTICE YOU, TEN!" _**

**_She flinched at his raw admission, looking just as shocked as he was. She regained her fire in record time, though. "YOU NEVER LET THAT ON BEFORE!" she shouted._**

**_"WHAT DID YOU WANT? A NEON SIGN OR SOMETHING?" In the back of his mind Neji wondered why they were now shouting, but the reason escaped him. He was too confused and mad to care._**

**_"IT WOULDN'T KILL YOU TO SHOW YOUR FEELINGS ONCE IN A WHILE, YOU KNOW THAT?" Tenten got to her feet now, as if height would give her an advantage. "I CAN'T READ YOUR MIND, NEJI! I GOTTA SEE ACTUAL PROOF!"_**

**_He rose to his feet as well. "You want proof?" he asked quietly, staring into her doe-brown eyes. "Fine. Here it is." _**

**_One hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her closer, while the other arm wrapped around her waist to keep her there. Before he lost his nerve or an eye, Neji bent down and kissed her, hard, with every ounce of love he'd ever felt for his beautiful, spunky, oddball best friend._**

**_What followed next was almost like a dream..._**

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><p><em>Wait...was it?<em>

Neji wasn't sure. He didn't show emotions well, but that didn't mean he wasn't a hot-blooded male. He'd had his fair share of inappropriate fantasies involving Tenten, some almost too real for even his logical mind to argue with. Plus, he'd been drinking earlier that night, so it might've contributed...

_Okay, don't panic, _he thought. _You're a genius, Neji. You can __figure out what exactly happened before Ten wakes up. Use your eyes and your brain, c'mon_.

Taking a deep breath, Neji looked around the room once more. He could see his shirt cast aside on the couch, explaining why he wasn't wearing one, and Tenten's was on the floor across from them. He couldn't see any other discarded articles of clothing, but that didn't mean jack. Neji concentrated and activated his Byakugan, limiting his range so he didn't look through a neighbor's walls.

He didn't realize that his actions made his body tense up. And he forgot Tenten was a highly-trained kunoichi who had been trained to wake up at the slightest movement. Her eyes flashed open as her hand reached over Neji's chest to rummage under her couch cushions.

Neji blinked. "You hide weapons in your couch?"

"I hide weapons everywhere. Why are you using your bloodline limit?"

Caught and now embarrassed, the Hyuuga blushed slightly. "Um..."

She retracted her arm and propped herself up on one elbow, regarding Neji through half-asleep brown eyes. "Looking for something?"

"Well..." He decided to go for broke and sat up fully, looking around the room and not at her. "You gotta admit, Ten...two teammates of opposite sexes wake up on the floor, under a blanket, after a heavy makeout session - it's cause for some concern."

"Concern about what?"

"Well...um..." _Maybe she won't stab me. Maybe?_

When she spoke, it sounded like she was smiling. "Just ask me, Neji."

"Tenten, did we sleep together last night?" Before she could shoot back the glib reply Neji clarified, "You know, did we have, like...you know." _God I sound like an idiot..._

Her hand touched his shoulder. Swallowing nervously, Neji turned back to see her sitting up, her body hidden by the blanket she held against her chest. "Would you be ashamed if we had?" she asked in a small voice.

Disbelief at her words made his jaw drop and his reply blunt. "You're kidding, right?" Color stained his face when he realized how stupid that sounded, and he quickly tried to fix it. "I-I mean, if we did, and I think we did, I wouldn't be ashamed. I - that is to say - " His blush deepened as the words choked up in his throat. "Ugh, Naruto was right..."

Tenten frowned, puzzled. "Huh? What's he got to do with anything?"

Neji's lips twisted in a dry grimace. "He called me the most enormous, thickheaded, and stupidest genius that's ever drawn breath."

"He's not that far off," she admitted with a teasing giggle.

Looking at her face gave him the courage to clear his throat. "I - I - " Neji tried, swallowed, then finished, " - have very strong romantic feelings for you."

Tenten laughed at his formal declaration. "You are so bad at this, aren't you?" She reached out to cup his cheek, stroking his cheekbone with her thumb. "But you have your moments. That's kinda why I love you too."

They both blushed at her words. Neji raised his hand to cover hers, reveling in the touch. But his curiosity could not be halted even for a perfect moment like this.

"So...did we or didn't we?"

That mischievous grin of hers appeared. Instead of answering, Tenten stretched her body to get closer to Neji's beet-red face. She put her lips beside his ear and whispered the exact same words he thought he'd only dreamed her say last night. _**"It's too far to my bedroom, Neji. I can't wait any longer."**_

That was enough incentive for Neji to kiss her hard and make his fantasy a reality one more time.

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><p><strong>Direct follow-up to #46: Blind. <strong>

***glup* Well, that's my attempt at morning-after while trying to keep Neji from being too OOC. What do you think?**

**Review please!**

**3...**


	49. Mesh

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto_, but Hizoku is my OC.**

**Prompt #48: Mesh - It was a weird combination - a pair of moon-pale eyes that saw everything, and a penchant for blowing up everything in sight.**

**Words: 1,201**

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><p>When six-year-old Hizoku entered his cadet class that first day, everyone knew he was a son of the Hyuuga clan.<p>

For one, he had the bearing. He walked in proudly, but without swagger. More like "I'm strong, but I won't brag about it." He seemed reserved and quiet, not shy but not antisocial either. Just...observant.

For another, he had the eyes. Like all his clansmen, he bore the pale eyes of the Byakugan. The white irises were tinted with a golden hue, unusual and beautiful, even for a Hyuuga. It made his gaze seem warmer than most other Hyuugas.

The girls in his class swooned over him every chance they got. The boys admired his strength and tried to beat him every chance they got. But the boy consistantly ranked one of the best in the class, and despite his name meaning "rebel," he was a model student.

All his teachers nodded and said the same thing. "Like father, like son."

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><p>"I'M HOME!"<p>

"I could tell," said his father when Hizoku came stomping into the living room. "I heard you slamming the gate shut out front, as well as the front door." He caught the irritated glower on his face. "Rough day?"

"Awful," Hizoku growled. "Everyone watches me. Sensei keeps saying I'm just like you. Everyone does. That I'm ANBU Captain Hyuuga's son. It's annoying."

His father looked up from his report. "Is it really that bad?"

"Dad, I dressed like this so I wouldn't make that impression!" The boy pointed to his black knee shorts, which sported two orange belts crossing each other hanging off his waist, and his white shirt resembling the traditional Hyuuga top that had one sleeve ripped off at the elbow to bear his bandaged forearm.

Captain Hyuuga couldn't fully suppress his smile. "Hate to break it to you, but...that's close to what I wore as a genin."

"Aw, crud." Defeated, Hizoku flopped down on the sofa. "Great. How am I supposed to make a name for myself without being seen as a Hyuuga?"

"Hizoku, I hate to say it, but as long as you have those eyes, people will always know who you are." His father put down his papers and went to sit beside him. "But that doesn't have to define you. Look at your mother. She rose to become a great kunoichi and _nobody _knew who she was in school."

He knew his father meant well, but Hizoku was very intelligent for a six-year-old. "So you're telling me to just bear with it?"

"For now." Captain Hyuuga smiled. "But don't worry. You'll find something that will shatter their preconceptions of you right out of existance. You just have to be patient."

"I don't wanna be patient!"

"And in that aspect, you're just like your mother."

Hizoku looked at her picture on the end table. "I miss Mom."

"So do I, son. So do I."

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><p>So Hizoku followed his father's advice. He went through school his own way, showing the genius of his father while attempting to find something to portray his own individual self like his mother.<p>

His chance arrived three months later, when the first practical exam was announced. All the parents were invited to attend, and before leaving for school, Hizoku managed to wrangle a promise from his father to be there on time.

Neji was sitting in the raised seats with the other parents when the class stood outside. A series of dummies were set up in a circle, each at a different distance from the center exam area. _I remember this one_, he thought. _Using ninja tools, you have to hit all the targets without leaving the center ring as quickly and efficiently as possible_.

Every other cadet used kunai, shuriken, and wires in combination, some successful, some not. Hizoku didn't even watch his classmates pass or fail as he waited. His gold-washed pearl eyes continued to scour the stands as if searching for someone.

Suddenly Neji was aware of another person dropping into the seat next to him. "Did I miss him?" Tenten huffed, looking for their son.

"Nope, he went last to make sure you saw his turn," he smiled. "He'll sure be glad to see you."

Sure enough, Hizoku's eyes lit up when he spotted them. A big smile widened across his face that made him look extremely happy, but at the same time, Neji felt like there was mischief in his eyes.

_I wonder what he's planning, _he wondered with his own smirk.

"Hyuuga Hizoku," announced the proctor unneccesarily.

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><p>Drawing himself up proudly, the young Hyuuga headed over to the table of ninja weapons and made his selections. After a few seconds, he made his way to center of the testing area.<p>

This was it. This was his chance to show that he wasn't just his father's son. Time to make his mother proud as well.

Closing his eyes, he activated his Byakugan. This drew appreciative claps from the audience, but Hizoku tuned them out. One by one, each dummy was pinged by his vision. He knew he wouldn't miss; there was no wind, and he'd always had exceptionally good aim.

He'd practiced this move after finding out from his older cousin about this exam. He practically had this in the bag. But Hizoku didn't let his confidence make him cocky. Taking a deep breath, his knees bent as his hands came up in a familiar stance. He could hear some poeple speculating, "Is he going to use _**Kaiten**_?" (Revolving Heaven)

Sure enough, Hizoku started to spin in place. But unlike the usual Hyuuga technique, there was no sphere of blue chakra surrounding him like a shield. Everyone was dumbfounded. What could this child be doing?

Hizoku couldn't help the wide smile on his face as he cried out his jutsu's real name. "_**Kairyuu!**_" (Revolving Dragon)

From his sleeve flew the kunai he'd selected. In perfect timing with his spin, each was released at the exact moment needed to strike each dummy in the dead center of their painted chest targets. Once he ran out of kunai, Hizuko skidded to a halt in the exact same position he'd started from, facing the audience as they cheered his ingenuity.

_You ain't seen nothing yet! _he thought proudly. Forming the snake sign, he yelled, "Boom!"

Each dummy exploded, sending everyone diving for cover. Hizoku laughed as he emerged from the clouds of dust and smoke, waving at his parents. "Mom! Dad! Didja see that? I put explosive tags on the kunai handles!"

"I saw, honey!" Tenten crowed. "That was amazing! I'm so proud of you!"

In a rare break from his serious nature, Neji let out a laugh as he threw an arm around his wife's shoulders. "Just like his mother," he announced.

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><p>From that day on, nobody made the mistake of regarding Hizoku as merely another Hyuuga. Neji's influence was significant, but not the only one.<p>

Hyuuga Hizoku was Tenten's son as well.

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><p><strong>I LOVE HIZOKU! Ahem, um, yeah, anyway...<strong>

**Review please!**

**2...**


	50. Mindreading

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto _at all, but Hizoku is still mine.**

**Prompt #49: Mindreading - Her 100/100 accuracy wasn't only restricted to sharp pointy things that made people bleed and die.**

**Words: 930**

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><p>It's an early spring morning, and Gai-sensei is trying to rile us up with his youthful lecture about the springtime of our lives.<p>

Tenten's staring at me. She thinks I don't see her, but I do. I focus on Gai-sensei's lecture as best I can and try to ignore it.

Lee interrupts the lecture. "Gai-sensei, perhaps we should use this youthful day's beautiful weather to strengthen our youthful bonds!"

_That is never going to happen_.

"Snowballs stand a better chance of freezing in Hell," Tenten states.

I briefly glance at her and nod, glad that we're in agreement once more. She gives a tiny nod back.

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><p>It's a balmy summer day, and the grass is blowing in one of Konoha's northern fields.<p>

We're on a mission with Naruto, and he's going into a long and detailed idea of how we can capture the prized racehorse that we've been ordered to recapture. It involves him dressing as a huge carrot to lure the horse back while Tenten and I swing lassos.

_That is the most idiotic thing I've ever heard him utter in all my years of knowing him_.

"You've seriously gone full stupid this time," Tenten says wearily.

Again I look at her and nod my agreement. Again she nods back.

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><p>It's a perfect day for meditation, and Tenten and I are taking advantage of one of our rare days away from Lee and Gai-sensei to relax.<p>

"Hey, Neji?"

"Hm?" I murmur, opening one eye. She only bothers me when I meditate to ask an important question. I wonder what she's going to ask me.

Lying on the ground next to me, she looks up and asks, "Ever wonder what might've happened if we never met?"

Now she's got my attention. Meditation forgotten, I give her my undivided focus. "Come again?"

"Think about it." She rolls on her stomach and leans on her elbows to prop her chin up with her hands. "If we never met, we'd never be friends. You'd have nobody to vocalize your inner thoughts with my level of creativity."

I frown at her and raise a brow. _You've got to be joking, _I think.

"Don't think at me with that tone of voice," she scolds. "Admit it. It's easier having me do the heavy speaking."

"I can do my own speaking," I say.

Her eyes slide shut as she flops over on her back again. "The word 'Hn' is not an acceptable form of communication. It's not even a word. It's a sound effect."

"You're not a mind-reader."

"Don't have to be." She smirks. "I just have to know how to phrase what's on your mind."

I roll my eyes.

"Don't make faces."

* * *

><p>It's weeks later, and the Konoha Eleven are celebrating the success of a multi-squad mission. I'm listening to the babble of voices and smiling at everyone's faces.<p>

They're celebrating success. I'm celebrating that we didn't lose anyone during the mission.

"So how about that exit strategy, huh?" Kiba crows, slinging his arm around Naruto's shoulders and toasting the blonde. "Gotta admit, those bazillion _**Kage Bunshin **_coming to bail us out was pretty flippin' awesome."

"Yeah, I'm awesome like that," Naruto boasts. Suddenly he glances at Tenten, then at me, then back. I frown. _What's wrong with him?_

"That twitch new?" Tenten asks.

He looks at Tenten warily. "Just wondering if Neji was gonna scold me or something."

_Why on earth would I do that?_

"Why on earth would he do that?" Tenten asks.

"Because he always does," is his reply, still directed at Tenten.

_Why is he talking to Tenten and not to me?_

"What makes this my issue?" Tenten demands.

Now Naruto's the one with a puzzled frown. "Because it's just easier to talk to you. You do all of Neji's talking anyway."

_That's not - _I pause, then say, "That's not true."

"Actually," Hinata pipes up, defending her boyfriend, "it is. Tenten usually does most of Neji-nii's speaking."

"Because she's his mindreader," Shino states. "Why? Because she knows him the best."

"IT IS A YOUTHFUL CONNECTION OF MINDS THAT DEFYS ALL KNOWN LAWS OF SCIENCE!" crows Lee. He picks up his cup and sips its contents a half-second before we all realize -

"_LEE, NO!_" Tenten and I yell as the familiar drunk look settles on our teammate's face.

* * *

><p>It's years later, and Hizoku is chattering away on his mother's lap about his drawing. For a three-year-old, he's really pretty adept at holding a paintbrush.<p>

Painting, however, is a different thing altogether. I'm squinting at the ink-spattered paper and still can't figure out what he's drawn.

"What is it, honey?" asks Tenten, voicing my thoughts.

"Birdies!" is the exuberant answer.

Sure enough, once I tilt my head, I can see the birds. Sort of. Kind of. A little.

Hizoku's face falls slightly. "Like?" he asks, sounding worried.

Before Tenten can reply, I smile at my son. "I love it, Hizoku," I assure him. "And so does your mother." My smile gets a little wicked looking at her. "Right, honey?"

Her responding look is one of _Well played. What am I thinking now?_

Shoot. She's got me.

She wins. For now.

Luckily, I'm getting better at reading her mind.

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><p><strong>Some humor to round it all out. Get ready, because next up is the last one!<strong>

**Review please!**

**1...**


	51. Teammates

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Naruto._**

**Prompt #50: Teammates - They'd come so far together.**

**Words: 1,539**

* * *

><p>Hyuuga Tenten liked to think she'd been through enough to be ready anything. After all, she'd lived through the Kyuubi's attack, two invasions of Konoha within three years, and the Fourth Shinobi War. That made you expect to face the world's surprises at a moment's notice.<p>

But she couldn't have predicted what her son would ask her the summer he turned thirteen.

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><p>"Mom, can I ask you something?"<p>

She stopped cooking to give her son her undivided attention. "What is it, Hizoku?" she asked.

His lips twisted into a puckered grimace. "Well...it's about Minazuki."

"Minazuki?" It took her a few seconds to remember the name. "Oh, your teammate, right? With, um, Satori?"

"Yeah. Anyway, Minazuki's been acting weird lately." Hizoku crossed his arms pensively as he moved to sit on the nearest chair. He looked so much like his father that Tenten couldn't help the fond smile on her face. "See, I'm getting mobbed by all the girls nowadays, and it's becoming a hassle to get any training done. Satori's understandably ticked, to be sure, but Minazuki...I dunno, it's like Minazuki disappears or something. Which makes no sense."

"Is Minazuki popular?"

"Not really. I mean, most of the other kids have picked on Minazuki a lot." Hizoku shook his head. "That's why I don't get it. Minazuki hates crowds as much as I do, but it doesn't explain why, lately, we seem to be drifting apart."

The weapons mistress sighed. "Sounds like a real problem. Have you talked to Minazuki about it?"

"Actually, that's what I wanted to ask you." Putting on his best begging face (which he most certainly got from her) Hizoku asked sweetly, "Could we have Minazuki over for dinner tomorrow?"

Of course she agreed. How could she not? She figured it mirrored Lee and Neji's youthful girl experiences (the former having no luck and the latter being uncomfortably swarmed) which could hopefully be solved by a friendly family dinner.

When the knock came at the front door, Tenten was ready to greet her son's teammate. Leaving Neji to finish the preparations and telling Hizoku to get cleaned up, she wiped her hands on a towel and made for the door.

She was expecting to see a boy almost as equally handsome as her son, and maybe a tad more arrogant than her husband had been at that age. Instead she saw a nervous-looking girl wearing an aqua t-shirt under a black sleeveless vest, the attached hood drawn over her head like the cowl of a Grim Reaper, and faded green shorts with black sandals. A pair of large purple eyes stared up at Tenten from under the hood.

"Hello, Mrs. Hyuuga," she said. "I'm Minazuki. Hizoku's teammate?"

"Of course," Tenten said, covering up her surprise at Minazuki's gender well. "Please, come in."

"Thank you." The girl slipped off her sandals and raked back her hood as she entered, revealing messily cut hair a startling shade of orange, like oak leaves in autumn, sticking out every which way. Neji came out and introduced himself, but further introductions were halted when Hizoku came barrelling down the stairs, his long dark hair pulled into a low tail just like his father's.

"You came," he said to Minazuki, relief evident in his voice. "Mom, Dad, this is Minazuki Meiko. C'mon Minazuki, we're having Mom's awesome red bean buns and gyoza tonight!"

The girl smiled. "Sounds delicious!"

It was obvious to the two adults that Meiko relaxed as she related story after story with Hizoku regarding their genin missions. She grew more animated as she and Hizoku dominated the conversations, talking about everything from training to missions to simple events in their lives. It forcibly reminded Tenten of how she and Neji interacted, just reversing their roles. That's when she decided to radically change her gameplan.

It was late when Meiko excused herself and said she had better be leaving. Tenten offered to walk her to the door while Hizoku hurried to clean up before walking his teammate home.

"Meiko, do you like my son?"

The girl looked up at her. "Of course. He's my best friend."

"You know he's concerned about that," Tenten said. "He thinks you're pulling away." She smiled at Meiko. "He's just as uncomfortable with the fangirls as you are, Meiko. Just stick with him, okay? He really thinks a lot of you."

Meiko shrugged. "He doesn't act like that."

"Yeah, that's a trait he's picked up from his father. Don't worry, he'll grow out of it eventually."

Hizoku ran to the doorway and kissed his mother's cheek. "Bye Mom. C'mon Minazuki, I'll walk you home."

Meiko bowed to Tenten. "Thank you for having me, Mrs. Hyuuga."

"Our pleasure, Meiko." When the teenagers left, Tenten went to sit beside her husband and relax. "They're kind of like we were," she remarked.

"I hope not," Neji replied. "I'd like to think Hizoku isn't quite as dense as I was."

* * *

><p>Hyuuga Neji liked to think that he was an intelligent person. After all, he was the first of his friends to get to jonin rank, and the first to make ANBU, and the first to make Captain of his own squad. He certainly thought he was smart enough to explain an unfamiliar situation to his son.<p>

But he couldn't have expected his son's question the spring he turned fifteen.

* * *

><p>"Dad, can I talk to you about something?"<p>

Neji set down his papers and faced Hizoku fully. "What is it, son?" he asked.

"It's about Minazuki."

Unlike his wife, it didn't take Neji long to place the name. "Ah. Your female teammate. What about her?"

"It's just, well...she's still Minazuki, but at the same time she's not. Like, people are noticing her." A hard edge entered his tone. "Other guys are noticing her."

Something came back to Neji. "She wasn't popular before, was she?"

"No! They called her Pumpkin-Head because of her hair color!" Old rage made Hizoku's voice snap like a steel trap. "But now that she's...she's..._different, _they're flocking around her like Inuzuka's pack around a bone!"

"Different? Different how?"

Hizoku shrugged angrily. "I dunno...pretty! She's dressing different, kinda, and she looks like a girl now!"

"She didn't before?" Neji asked deliberately.

"She did, but that's different! She was just _Minazuki_," his son said as if spelling out an obvious word. "But now it's like she's wearing a neon sign! It's annoying!" He scowled now, as if this sudden influx of attention was a personal insult to him. "And I don't know why, but it bugs me!" Hizoku nervously swallowed and fiddled with his fingers in a way that reminded Neji of the boy's aunt. "Um...well...when did you know you had a crush on Mom?"

Neji's eyebrow rose in surprise. "Crush?" he repeated. "You have a crush on her?"

"Maybe. I dunno." Now Hizuko was lightly blushing. "I think so. Maybe?"

Neji didn't feel like watching his son flounder around in the uncertainty of his feelings. He'd already had that unpleasant experience, thanks. "You're feeling jealous about how other boys look at her," he said bluntly.

"I know."

"Then you should do something about it," Neji advised. "And fast, before she thinks you won't and another guy comes along."

The challenge lit up Hizuko's gold-pearl eyes. With a stiff nod, he got up and headed out. Neji smiled and returned to his paperwork.

Tenten stepped out of the kitchen and sat beside her husband with a smile. "How long have we been together?"

"Almost twenty-three years." He grinned back. "But you knew that. Worried about your son?"

"What mother wouldn't be?" She heaved a sigh. "I can't believe we've been through all that we've been through, and we still can't figure out how to help Hizoku."

"Best friends tend to notice when the dynamic shifts that drastically."

She smiled. "And Meiko's a perceptive girl. I'm sure she'll catch on soon."

"Even if she doesn't, Hizoku won't push it before she's ready. He's like you that way."

"And he's loyal and steady, just like you," Tenten replied. "Think they'll figure it out soon?"

He reached over and threaded his fingers between Tenten's. "Five years."

"Sorry?"

"That's about how long it took for me to realize how much I cared about you," he confessed with an awkward smile. "But Hizoku's a smarter genius than I was. He noticed in two."

"So he'll be fine?" Tenten asked.

"He's our son, remember." Neji leaned over and kissed her gently. "And we'll be together for quite some time, am I right?"

She snuggled against him. "For the rest of our lives," she promised.

"Then trust me, those two will be fine."

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><p><strong>And we are finished another compilation! With over 200 reviews, no less!<strong>

**Thank you all so much for sticking with me on this one! ****Please read my other works as well!**


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